


In the Woods of Japan

by KingsHighway



Series: Captain of Captains [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, CAPTAIN SQUAD, Hiking, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Oikawa Tooru, Lots of Hurt, Minor Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Minor Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Survival, Wilderness Survival, forest, slowburn hurt/comfort? i swear there will be comfort eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingsHighway/pseuds/KingsHighway
Summary: Sawamura Daichi is not the greatest friends with the other captains he's met, but he manages to get convinced to attend a day trip of hiking and picnicking with Bokuto, Kuroo, Oikawa and Ushijima. Disaster strikes quickly, though, as on their way back down from the mountain they take a wrong turn and end up trapped down the bottom of a steep hill that Oikawa, with a re-injured knee, is unable to climb. Without cell reception, water, food, or a map, the captains are left to navigate the forest and survive the night alone. "Captain Bonding Day" is far more literal than any of them wanted, as they have to fight for survival and to make their way back to the teammates anxiously waiting for news on their safety.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Series: Captain of Captains [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2204409
Comments: 122
Kudos: 205





	1. A Surprisingly Pleasant Uphill Climb

"It's just a hiking trip, Daichi, you'll survive," Suga laughed, adjusting his cellphone to rest between his ear and his shoulder, chuckling at the myriad of complaints the other seemed to have. He zoned out slightly, focusing mostly on just cooking the eggs in his pan. 

Daichi had been invited by none other than Kotaro Bokuto to attend what they called "the first official captain's bonding trip," which was a mouthful. Suga had found Daichi's shortened version, "hell," much for apt. 

"It would be different if it were like… official," Daichi said. "If this were a volleyball event, and it was supposed to build our skills as captains, and if _all_ the captains were invited, but it's not! It's a thinly veiled excuse to hang out."

"And what's wrong with that?" Suga laughed. "Come on, they like you! It's fine!"

"Spending a whole day climbing through the woods with Bokuto and Kuroo would be intolerable enough if they hadn't also roped Oikawa and Ushijima into it!" 

"It'll be _fun_ , Daichi-san," Suga replied, fondness dripping from his voice. He knew what Daichi wanted - if even one of his peers told him that he didn't have to go, he'd get off the bus that second and walk back home. Suga was not going to give that to him. 

"Fun!" he echoed back, before Suga could hear him sinking lower against his seat. He took the pan of eggs he was cooking off the element, carefully sliding them onto his plate. 

"Fun," Suga confirmed. "And when you get back, you can whine and complain about how _awful_ all those nice people are. How _dare_ they like you enough to include you in their lives."

"...Stop making me feel like a bad person."

Suga laughed, shaking his head. "You're just a bit stiff. I think you'll have more fun than you think you will."

"Well, I'm already on the bus, so I guess I've committed to it…"

"Exactly."

There was a quietness on the other end of the phone for a bit, and Suga smiled as he took his finished breakfast over to the table. He didn't find the quiet weird at all. He liked to listen to the rumbling of the bus from the other end, the soft breath Daichi let out when they went over a pothole. It was almost like being there with them. 

He wished they'd invived vice-captains, too. He could do with a day out of town. And hiking in Gunma sounded lovely. 

"I supposed I should let you go," Daichi said after a moment, and Suga hummed, thankful he'd spoken up before he'd put the forkful into his mouth. 

"I suppose," Suga agreed, chuckling softly in response to the dejection in his voice. A silence hung again, but this time it wasn't quite so comfortable. It felt like Daichi wanted to say something. 

Suga's patience was rewarded when he spoke again. 

"When I get back," Daichi started. "Tomorrow night, do you maybe want to… do something?" 

Suga held his breath, then broke into a laugh, nodding lightly. He had thought, for a moment, that Daichi might have finished that sentence with _go out,_ preferably followed by _with me_. But, no, he just wanted to hang out, in a more relaxed location. With a friend he actually enjoyed. 

"Sure," Suga said, leaning back in his chair. He tried not to contemplate the slight disappointment burning in his chest. "Did you want to invite Asahi too? We could order pizza, get a movie…"

There was silence on the other side, then Daichi said: "I was kinda thinking just me and you. And maybe somewhere in town? There's a new restaurant that just opened up downtown, I've been wanting to check it out." 

Suga's eyes raised slightly, and he chewed on his lip for a moment before saying: "Yeah! Of course, that sounds awesome. Tomorrow night, then."

Suga could hear the smile in Daichi's voice. 

"Tomorrow night."

Another pause - far happier, comfortable. 

"I'm gonna hang up now," Daichi said, his voice soft and amused, when Suga realized he'd been supposed to say goodbye. 

"Oh! Yeah, goodbye. Have a good trip!" 

"I'll try," he said, before the soft click disconnected their call. 

Suga stared down at his breakfast, leg beginning to bounce in excitement before he was unable to contain it, letting out a little shout of excitement and standing up. Yes! _Yes!_ Sure, sure, _sure_ \- neither of them had said the word _date_ , but that had to be what it was, right? 

He can't help but laugh, excitement burning through his body. He wanted to hit something, or run a mile, just to get rid of the tingling energy he felt under his skin. 

This was perfect! All he had to do was get through a day and a half and he'd be going out to dinner with _Sawamura Daichi_. He gave another small shout, and then was silenced by his mother shouting for him to shut up. 

  
\---   
  


Daichi got off the bus, adjusting his bag over his shoulder and crossing the parking lot. That had been a lot of driving, just to get to a place that he'd have to do a _lot_ of walking. Made even weirder by the fact that Ushijima Wakatoshi had gotten on after him, and ridden exactly three seats in front of him, and across the aisle, without even once looking back to him after their brief nod of acknowledgement. 

Daichi was supposed to hike with this guy?

And now he was following him across the parking lot, to where the other captains were already gathering. Oikawa had come in the night before, supposedly so that he could be well rested and pretty for the hike instead of dragging his ass out of bed at 6 am for a 2.5 hour bus ride. 

The sun was up, nice and warm and honestly, had Daichi been more enthusiastic for this whole affair, it would be a perfect day for it. He stretched his arms up, working out the kinks in his shoulders after the ride. 

"Daichi! Ushijima!" 

He looked across, watching Bokuto wave them over excitedly. "You made it!" 

"We made it!" Daichi agreed. 

"I didn't know you two boys were coming together," Oikawa teased. "I'd have made it a trio, that sounds fun!" 

"It was fine," Ushijima replied, and Daichi felt himself frown before he could control it. Why was he responding as if they'd actually ridden together? He may as well have been alone!

"Yeah," Daichi said, in agreement, because what else could he say? 

"Well, are you two ready to go?" Kuroo said, adjusting his own backpack. "Brought lunch? Extra water?"

"Got it all right here!" Bokuto said, swinging his bag off his shoulder and smacking it into Oikawa, who stumbled to shove it right back at him. 

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" 

"Sorry man, I'm just excited! This is gonna be awesome!"

"I have everything I need," Ushijima agreed. Daichi gave a nod. 

"How long is this hike going to take?" Oikawa said, rubbing his arm where Bokuto had hit it, as they started towards the small wooden fence lining the beginning of the path. 

"Three hours!" Kuroo chirped, bravely leading the way down the path. Bokuto followed him up, and Daichi found himself falling into step just slightly behind Oikawa. Ushijima stayed behind, further back.

"Three _hours?_ " Oikawa replied. "Man, I thought this was going to be quick!"

"Why would I have you pack a lunch if it was going to be quick?" Kuroo laughed. "We get to the summit around noon, we'll eat, take some photos, explore, then head back down."

"W-wait," Oikawa said, voice stiffening slightly. "Not three hours round? Three hours _one way?_ "

"Yep!"

Daichi felt himself die a little bit inside, but he supposed he always liked a challenge. It was good exercise, and they were all athletic men. This trail didn't include anything particularly challenging, so it should just be a good day of work. 

"It'll be fine," Bokuto said. "What, do you have something more important to do?"

"Honestly, if I'd known this was going to be a six hour event, I would have found something more important to do," Oikawa muttered. "I thought we'd all be able to get lunch in town after like… an hour, hour and a half at most…"

"You people complain so much," Kuroo said. "Now come on! We got a hike to complete!" 

Bokuto gave a shout of excitement, trying to amp everyone up with him, and they all picked up their feet to try and be at least a little bit energetic. 

Daichi adjusted his bag again, smiling slightly. This might not be _so_ bad… and besides, he had a date to look forward to at the end of it all.

\---

Okay, this was very bad. Daichi decided he didn't like this. 

"It's just a little bit uphill," Ushijima said, probably a dozen meters ahead of Bokuto, who was a dozen more meters ahead of Kuroo and Daichi, who had both stopped to take a breather.

"It's a little more than a little bit uphill!" Oikawa shouted from the back, frustration etched across his face. "It's been like two hours of this! I'm exhausted, and my knee hurts!" 

"We can take another break," Daichi offered, taking a deep breath and trying to straighten up. He cleared his throat slightly, pulling his bag around to take his water bottle out. He took a swallow, permanently worried about using up all his water before they even had to start returning. 

"This will be the seventh break we've taken," Ushijima replied, putting his hands on his hips. "We're already almost an hour behind schedule."

"I know, man!" Kuroo called. "I know! But I'm tired, and this is way more uphill than I thought it would be!" 

Ushijima gave a sort of disapproving _mhpm_ , but just turned to start back up the path. Bokuto groaned, dragging sore legs up and up again, following after the man. Kuroo looked at Daichi, clearly in pain. 

"This was your idea," Daichi reminded him, seeming almost offended that he dare look at him with that much tiredness. "I didn't suggest this."

"I know," Kuroo grumbled, before dragging himself up to start on the trail again. 

Daichi glanced back to where Oikawa was, somewhat concerned. There was clear pain written across his face, and although Daichi had never liked the so called Great King, he felt bad for them. A sports injury - especially to the knee - never really went away. It could get healed enough to perform well for an hour, two hours, sometimes whole days, but it would always give first compared to the rest of your body. 

And Oikawa's knee hadn't been injured _that_ long ago, all things considered. 

"Do you need-"

"I don't need help," Oikawa spat back, brushing past Daichi with a determined look in his eye. Daichi nodded to himself. He'd find a better way to phrase it, next time. 

A group of leaders, they were, neither one was particularly used to nor fond of taking orders from anyone else. So they all continued to trudge on, enjoying this significantly less than they had been an hour ago. Things had been fun, for a very small period of time. 

Daichi took a slow, deep breath, then pulled himself up and started back up the path, watching everyone climb on ahead of him. Sure, it was almost noon now, and they still had a solid hour of hiking to go before they reached the summit, and then another three hours of hiking to get back, which mean Daichi was definitely going to miss the bus he intended to catch. Despite all that, even if he didn't get home until 1 am for some ungodly reason, he'd still have his date to look forward to. 

And a story to tell. 

\---

The end of the hike was actually quite beautiful. A small plateau in the mountains, with a wide patch of sunny, green grass overlooking an ocean of trees and hills below them. Daichi let his breath out, lifting a hand to wipe sweat off his forehead. The pleasant sun and weather had been the only saving grace of this whole affair. That, and the view was pretty damn cool. 

"Finally!" Bokuto cried, finding one last reserve of energy to take off in a jog to get ahead of them. "Look at that view!"

"See?" Kuroo called, putting his hands on his hips. "All worth it."

"It's pretty beautiful," Daichi agreed, pulling his phone out. He noticed that up in the hills here they didn't have any reception. That was too bad, he was kind of looking forward to calling Sugawara and pretending like he hadn't suffered through hell just to get to the top of the hike. He didn't want to come off as lazy or weak or unathletic, after all. He'd have just said that Oikawa's knee had set them back. 

That's why they were an hour and a half late to the top. 

Well, a photo or two would have to do, he'd send them once they got back in range of a cell tower. 

Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. Ushijima seemed to be quite committed to getting a good photo, crouching down and angling the camera dynamically to get the most pleasing shot. Bokuto was snapping as many photos as he could, and both Kuroo and Oikawa seemed more concerned with taking selfies than the scenery.

Daichi took a few photos of the view, before Kuroo was shouting for his attention and waving them over. 

He was crushed in between Bokuto and Kuroo, with Oikawa and Ushijima pushing in on the edges. Kuroo raised the camera, smiling wide and cheerful, as if they hadn't just endured the worst hike of their lives.

\---

Daichi almost began to think this was worth it. After eating his lunch he felt a lot better, and Bokuto had brought up some homemade cookies, and after some coaxing from Oikawa had agreed to share them with everyone else. 

Daichi was chewing on that while he laid in the cool grass, legs no longer burning and lungs taking easy breaths of air. It was a clear, cool and lovely day. He closed his eyes to enjoy it. 

"Man, we should have brought a volleyball up here!" Bokuto was laughing, from where he was somehow still full of energy, despite his complaining. 

"I agree it would be fun," Ushijima said. "But I'm not a hundred percent sure how we would play, the ground is sloped and the ball would bounce away almost immediately. Plus, there's no net, or any lines."

"Hah! Stop being so serious," Bokuto snickered. "We wouldn't need those things just to play around."

Ushijima hummed at this, and Daichi smiled slightly. The stern captain had really started to come out of his shell, and Daichi was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, he was just shy, and not mean. He certainly hadn't been _mean_ , though perhaps a little bit too determined on some of those steeper uphill strips. 

"What if I threw some rocks at you?" Kuroo said. "Think you could spike a rock?"

"Hell yeah I could spike a rock!" 

"You're gonna hurt your hand," Daichi called, lazily, before cracking open an eye as he heard movement beside him. Oikawa settled into the grass by his head. 

"They're not listening to you," Oikawa said. 

"Yeah, I'm used to that."

Oikawa laughed - actually laughed - though it was just a small sort of chuckle, before the other captain leaned back on his palms to look out over the view and enjoy the rest. 

"How's your knee feeling?" Daichi asked, tilting his head up to look at him. Oikawa didn't look back, but offered a small shrug. 

"Better, now that I've rested it a bit."

"Think you'll make it down fine?"

"I'll be-"

 _Thud-_ "Ow!"

Daichi lifted his head towards where Bokuto was rubbing his hand. Kuroo was standing a few meters away, snickering softly. 

"He actually tried to spike a rock, huh?" Oikawa said, something that wasn't exactly fondness in his voice. 

"I mean, he said he would," Daichi offered, before laying back down again. 

"Wanna try again?" Kuroo teased. 

"Hell yeah, toss me another one!"

"God, they're dumb," Oikawa muttered. "How do they even survive on their own?"

"They're not on their own," Daichi mumbled. 

There was a moment of silence, before Oikawa gave a soft sort of gasp. "Oh my god, are _we_ in charge of them?"

"Mhm, there you go," Daichi murmured. 

And apart from Bokuto's next exclamation of pain, the world drifted off into serene calm, with just the breeze and the view and the grass around them. Maybe Suga had been right, maybe this was a good thing. Daichi would never have expected to enjoy the quiet and contemplative presence of Oikawa Tooru, but here they were. 

When Ushijima sat next to him on his other side, he was even more surprised. He actually sat up a bit, expecting something needed of him. But Ushijima just closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Daichi realized that maybe all of the captains here had a bit of excess stress built up. 

Maybe they all needed this. 

"Hey," Daichi said after a moment, pushing himself up to sit properly. Ushijima peeled open an eye, hard and narrowed as always. He looked unapproving, upset, and downright disappointed in him, but if the last 4.5 hours of his life had taught him anything, it was that Ushiijma did not control the glare in his expression. He was nicer than he thought. "You were getting pretty into the photos a while ago, did you take anything good?"

Ushijima's eyes widened slightly, a sort of surprised look crossing his face before he nodded and pulled out his phone, opening it up and opening his gallery. 

"Here," he said, showing the first photo. Daichi was actually quite surprised, the photos were absolutely stunning. He'd never have expected the solemn and quiet man to have a creative eye for something like this, but the way the trees and flowers and grass framed his photos, and the way the sunlight lit everything up…

"You have got to send those to me," Daichi chuckled. "They're way better than the ones I've got. You're really good at that."

Ushijima stared at him for a moment, then said: "Thank you."

Daichi laughed. He'd probably always be a man of few words.


	2. A Shockingly Unpleasant Downhill Climb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the lovely reception to the first chapter :)

They stayed up at the top of the hike for much longer than Daichi would have expected them to, but he wasn't complaining. It was beautiful, and fun, and yes, they had convinced him to attempt to spike the rock. Yes, it hurt, and he wasn't sure how they had convinced him to do that. 

Kuroo and Bokuto just had a way of bringing the dumbass out in everyone they spoke to. 

There was somewhat of an element of not wanting to have to hike again, even if they knew that it was all going to be downhill now. They'd worked so hard just to get up here, and now they had to go back down? That was like undoing all their progress, and felt almost like a crime. 

But eventually Kuroo reminded them that if they didn't get started soon, they'd be stuck in the woods way past dinner time, and nobody wanted that. So they gathered themselves up, took one last look out over the gorgeous view, then turned and headed back towards the bushes. 

It took Daichi only ten minutes to feel like something was wrong. 

He doesn't say anything though, glancing back up to where they'd come from, the tree branches clawing together and blocking too much of that lovely sunlight. It was darker than he remembered. Or had he just gotten used to the light. 

They walked for a little bit longer. Bokuto and Kuroo were still laughing happily, joking around about something one of their teammates had said. Ushijima had pulled out his phone, and although Daichi had seen him looking at some of his photos earlier, he was now just staring at his text screen. 

"Something wrong?" Daichi asked, catching up to him as the hills grew only steeper. Had they been this bad on the way up? He remembered it being hell… 

Ushijima tucked his phone away. "We've been out of service for a while. I was hoping to update people on where we were."

"Everyone knows which trail we're on," Daichi reminded him. "But I get it, I was hoping to send a few photos and connect with people, too…"

Ushijima nodded, then slowly put his phone away. Attention would have to be given to the steep hill as they tried not to slip their way down. 

"This is a  _ lot _ steeper than I remember," Oikawa called, stopping with his hand against one of the trees. "Are you sure this is the same path we came up? We might be lost."

Kuroo, further down the line, looked up at them. "We're not lost," he said. "What other trail could we possibly be on?" 

But as he turned to look down the rocky, steep trail, the confidence in his answer faded. Daichi turned to look back up where they'd come from. That didn't look at  _ all _ how it was on the way up, he was sure of that. 

"Guys, I don't think we're in the right place."

"We're  _ lost? _ " Oikawa gasped, eyes widening in alarm. When he had said it, it was making fun of the navigation of their two leaders. When Diachi said it, it was a problem. 

"We're not lost," Bokuto laughed, glancing around. "It's just a forest, and we got a little off the path - come on, let's just head left, I'm sure we'll find the path there."

"I think the best bet would be to just go back up to the clearing," Ushijima said. "And try and find the start of the path again."

"But we've been walking for like twenty minutes," Bokuto complained. "That's twenty minutes straight uphill, then the whole trek down the path again!" 

Daichi hummed, glancing around. It was a dangerous position to be in. The last thing he wanted was to get caught out here. There wasn't an excessive amount of danger, but there were black bears in these woods, snakes, several venomous bugs and, of course, the weather. If they got lost, they'd have to deal with the forest at night.

"Let's play it safe," Daichi said. "We're captains, right? What's a twenty minute uphill climb?" 

Kuroo nodded. "I agree. Back to the top, and then we find the right path and get out of here safely. People are waiting for us."

People were waiting indeed, Daichi agreed. As it was, he was probably going to be several hours late to having reception to text his family, or Suga. They'd probably assume he was having fun, but… he didn't want them to worry. 

The uphill climb was worse than the first time around. He dragged himself each step of the way, often grabbing onto trees to haul himself up. Almost immediately he could feel the burn in his ankles and thighs, and he was suddenly thankful for all the strenuous volleyball workouts. 

Breath coming in deep gasps, the five fought their way back up to the clearing. Hissing and cursing under their breath, it was suddenly not fun again. 

" _ Ah- _ shit!" 

There was a thumping, the sound of dirt and rocks tumbling down, and branches shaking. Daichi jerked his head around, slipping in his surprise and catching himself against the ground.   
Oikawa had slipped, knees in the dirt, one hand gripping the base of a small tree that had kept him in place. Daichi was suddenly aware of the dizzying threat of falling. If someone fell here, finding a hold to stop themselves would be almost impossible against the steep hill.  
"You good?" he called. 

"I'm fine!" Oikawa shouted back, pain in his voice. "Just… give me a second…"

"We're almost at the top, man, you got this!" Bokuto called. 

"I know I got this!" Oikawa shouts back, the pitch of it rising slightly. "Just… give me a second, okay? I'll be fine…" 

Daichi swallowed, slowly pushing himself back up to his feet to watch him. Oikawa took a few shaky breaths, then slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. His face had calmed down, an intense facade of concentration to mask the level of pain he was in. Determination had always been a dominant trait in all five men. 

But when he took a step forward, onto the leg with his bad knee, it immediately crumpled beneath him and he went down with a cry of pain. 

He didn't just go down. He went  _ down _ . 

"Oikawa!" Daichi shouted, resisting the urge to leap after him as the other man slipped into the wilderness, shrieking as gravity took hold and tore him down., 

"Oh my god-" Kuroo gasped, moving quicker than Daichi could to start trying to scramble down the steep hill again. "Oikawa!" 

" _ Oikawa! _ "

They all started to shout, trying to make their way down as quickly as they could without suffering the same fate.   
Oikawa disappeared. He'd been tumbling and trying to catch his footing for a while, but there must have been a ledge - he was falling one moment, and gone the next.   
" _Oikawa!_ " Daichi shouted, taking a start and chasing after him with the rest of them. 

The dirt slipped beneath them, rocks falling and giving them uneven footing. At one point Daichi lost his balance, heels digging into the dirt and sending him pitching backwards. Thankfully, though, unlike Oikawa, this allowed him to stop himself after scraping down a meter or two of space. 

"Watch yourself!" Kuroo called. Daichi swallowed and nodded an understanding. 

"Hey hey-" Bokuto called, leading the charge beside Kuroo. He held out a hand, keeping the other captain back as they peered over the edge of the undergrowth and down the drop Oikawa and hit. "Stay back! We don't need anyone else falling!"

"Oikawa!" Kuroo called. "Are you okay? Can you get up?"

There was silence from down below. Daichi felt his heart pounding in his throat, and he reached Kuroo's side in time to look over the edge and see Oikawa. 

The drop was not far, perhaps two or three meters at most, and it wasn't strictly ninety-degrees, though it sure looked close. He swallowed, glancing around at the trees and the bushes and feeling nauseous fear rise up in him. 

Oikawa was laying there, head tilted to the side, body propped awkwardly against the roots of a tree he landed on. Daichi waited, and everyone waited, and finally -  _ finally _ \- he stirred, groaning slowly and sitting up. 

"Oh, thank god," Daichi breathed, feeling relief wash over him. 

"Shit…" Oikawa muttered, under his breath, as he focused pale brown eyes up at them. "You little shits are worthless, letting me fall like that…"

"How could we possibly have stopped that," Ushijima muttered, before crouching down and swinging his way over the ledge. 

"Woah woah woah-"

Bokuto's attempt to stop Ushijima came too late, and the latter was already sliding down the dirt and to the level Oikawa was on. 

"You can just leap down there!" Bokuto finished, before huffing. Clearly, Ushijima could and had. 

"Oikawa is hurt, we can't just leave him alone," Ushijima reminded them. 

"Do  _ not _ leave me alone," Oikawa agreed, voice firm, if not slightly pained. 

Ushijima bent down to try and help him sit up, then stand up. Oikawa's face visibly paled in pain, and when he went to put his bad leg down on the ground, Daichi could practically feel the stinging pain that resonated across his face. 

He turned slowly, looking back up the steep, steep hill up to the clearing. 

"Oikawa is not going to be able to make it back up there," Daichi said, catching Kuroo's attention. They both surveyed the route, and Kuroo came to the same realization. 

"Honestly, I don't know if we could, either. It got way steeper those last few meters…" Kuroo said, before looking down to Oikawa, then off to their left. "The path was probably over there somewhere, right? Let's just head that way." 

Daichi felt nerves beginning to bite away at his fingers, a churning sensation in his gut. 

"I guess we don't have any other options…"  
"Sorry…" Oikawa said, weakly, not exactly looking up at them. "If I hadn't fallen…"

"Don't worry about that!" Bokuto called, half interrupting him. He sat down, then swung himself over the ledge, skidding down the steep drop to join them. Daichi set to work on getting down himself. "You couldn't help falling, it's not like you control  _ gravity _ or anything, so…"

"Right…"

Kuroo slid down and brushed himself off. He took a deep breath, before looking around. 

"Let's try and stay as much in the right direction as we can, okay?" Kuroo said, clapping his hands together. "We know the parking lot is that way - so what if we have to cut our own trail?"

Ushijima nodded. "Let's move as quickly as we can," he said. "We don't have too many more hours of light, and we're basically three hours away from the parking lot. We'd be cutting it close even on the path." 

"Right," Daichi agreed, moving behind Ushijima to Oikawa's other side, to help support him. "Let's go."

Bokuto nodded, and determination flashed across all the captain's faces to replace the worry and fear that was beginning to lodge within them. 

\---

Spirits had almost begun to rise again. Though it was not easy going without the path, they managed to walk consistently and steadily. Even though Oikawa was still hissing in pain any time he had to put any pressure at all on his bad knee, they managed to make pretty good time. 

And, whichever non-recreational path they were carving seemed to be less steep and challenging than the one they took to get up there. Daichi took a sip from his water when they stopped to give Oikawa a small break from the constant ache in his knee, but reflexively saved as much as he could. He hated this uncertainty. Though everyone tried to maintain the positive assumption that they'd find the parking lot just like they would on the path, it was impossible to ignore the fact of the situation. 

They had no idea where they were going, it was all guesswork. 

Daichi pulled out his phone, hoping desperately that they'd come within reach of cell reception. Unfortunately, there were no bars, and no messages, and no way to send a message back to anyone who might be worried about him. He let his breath out, finding it shakier than he would have expected. 

It was just past six o'clock now. They had to be getting close to the parking lot, unless they were completely turned around…

Suga would be expecting a text. Once he'd learned of the ridiculous three-hour length of the trail, he'd sent a message saying they'd probably be back around four or five… They'd stayed up at the summit longer than expected, and now this… 

He would probably be worried. His parents would be worried too, and surely all the guys he was with had families and friends waiting for them. 

He noticed Ushijima kept checking his phone, as well as Bokuto and Kuroo… Oikawa probably would be, if he hadn't needed his hands to constantly steady himself. 

A few moments past, before Kuroo said: 

"Let's keep walking."

It was all that was needed to be said. Simple and concise, but filled with a nervous desperation. Until they stopped walking, they hadn't admitted defeat. 

Daichi took a deep breath, then pushed himself away from the tree he was leaning against to follow after them. 

They continued to walk, and they continued to walk. The time seemed to only get longer, and everyone took turns helping Oikawa. The injured guy was more quiet than Daichi had ever seen him, but he couldn't exactly bring himself to blame him. He was in pain, and he knew he felt responsible for this. 

But he needed help, so he was just going to have to suck it up. 

So they walked, and walked, and walked. 

_ Smack! _

Daichi tilted his head back, watching Bokuto growl and shake his head. "Stupid mosquitoes," he mumbled, mostly to himself. 

The sun was setting. They walked. And they walked. And they walked. 

\---

Suga stared at the time on his phone. It was almost seven thirty. Where was Daichi? He should be almost home by now, and at  _ least _ he should have sent a message. And surely he wouldn't just forget… Suga expected that he'd had way more fun than he'd anticipated, and forgot to text him at the summit, but… Forgetting to text once he was sitting alone on that bus? 

He rolled onto his back, still staring at his phone and praying for a message to come in. He could barely focus on the schoolwork he had to do, all his thoughts wrapped up in his captain and what had happened to keep him from texting. 

He sent another message to him - one of eleven that had currently gone unread. 

_ Come on, Daichi! Stop ignoring me! _

He hoped it was light hearted. He wanted it to be light hearted, that Daichi had just made some really good friends and was so wrapped up in their adventure and dinner that he hadn't even noticed the time. Maybe he'd fallen asleep on the bus. 

He waited, and he rolled over, and he waited. Nausea grew in his stomach as anxiety began to build. Where was he? 

More importantly, how long did he have to wait before he got worried?

Should he be worried already? Should he have been worried thirty minutes ago? Two hours ago? 

_ Ding! _

Sugawara had never opened his messages that fast, eyes flickering frantically over the screen. Please, please, please… 

It was…

Akaashi Keiji? 

_ Have you heard from Daichi? _

Suga swallowed. 

Oh, shit. 

He stared at the message for a while, then taped out a reply with shaking fingers. 

_ No. _

_ He's been quiet since about 10am. _

Almost immediately, the little texting bubble appeared as Akaashi's answer came back: 

_ I haven't heard from Bokuto yet. I'm starting to get worried, he never forgets to text me. _

Suga felt ice wash over him, his vision flickering and head spinning. Akaashi was worried. Akaashi thought there was something to worry about. His fingers were stiff, and could barely move, but he managed to get a reply out. 

_ They're probably just having fun, right? _

Akaashi's reply is simple and straight to the point and makes Suga want to throw up:  _ It's dark out. _

Suga sat up on his bed, turning his eyes to the window. The sky was dark, past dusk, and it was just beginning to show signs of stars. It was dark out. They were in the dark. They were probably on the bus, or sitting in a restaurant, or something, it was fine. They would be fine. 

_ Has anyone else heard from them? _ Suga sent back, before opening up his messages and scrolling through to find Asahi's contact. He typed out a quick message to him: 

_ Hey, I haven't heard from Daichi and I was supposed to hours ago. I'm a little worried _ .

And then Suga laid back on his bed, holding his phone tightly and praying that this was all just a bunch of friends over reacting. Suga cared a lot about Daichi, of course he was going to panic when something was weird. But what were the chances that something was actually weird. Come on, Daichi… we have a date tomorrow… 

_ Ding! _ A message from Akaashi:  _ No. The only other number I have is Iwaizumi _ , _ and he says Oikawa hasn't texted him at all. _

That didn't mean anything. That didn't mean anything. That didn't mean anything.   
_They'll be fine_ , Suga sent back, followed immediately by: _Of course they'll be fine. They're a bunch of meatheads who probably got distracted chasing something shiny. They'll be fine._

_ Ding! _ This time, a message from Asahi:  _ Oh dear. Do you have his parents number? they might know something. I haven't heard from him, if that's what you were wondering. _

Suga shook his head, anxiety taking over all his thoughts. 

_ Ding! _ Akaashi:  _ I'm calling the police if I don't hear from them by the morning _ . 

Suga stared at the message Akaashi had sent, before nodding slightly.  _ So will I. And I'll kill Daichi if all this is just them forgetting to text _ . 


	3. The First Night

That lovely sunlight had gone away. First, dusk hit, and with the trees stretching endlessly around the small group covering them in shade, the temperature dropped dramatically. Then, the sun passed further, and further, down under the invisible horizon line and they were plunged into a sort of open darkness, too open to be suffocating but too vast to be comforting. 

They stopped because they needed to stop, not because they wanted to. Bokuto was glancing around like a caged animal, and every time Daichi stepped near him, he felt not just anxiety and fear radiating off him, but a furious sort of energy that couldn't really be named. Like adrenaline was coursing through him the same it would if he was falling from a plane or caught in a house fire. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, and he had stopped checking his phone. 

Kuroo had stopped talking. That was surprising to Daichi. They had all stopped talking, actually, right as the sun had begun to set, but Kuroo had trained to maintain some resemblance of normalcy. Sometimes asking stupid questions, (Hey, Daichi, since there are no teachers around, maybe you can tell that story about your principals wig?) and sometimes just making chatter to fill the air because the silence was painfully tense (Hey, that's a really cool looking bird up there, you guys see it?) So when Kuroo had stopped chattering, the silence had hit harder than before. Daichi tried to stay close to him, but the glaze in his eyes was beginning to look more like hopelessness that exhaustion. 

Ushijima stayed with Oikawa most of the time. Nothing seemed to have changed with the tall, silent captain, but that was almost worse. No reaction meant a bottled reaction, and a bottled reaction was liable to explode. 

Oikawa was pale in the face. First, Daichi had thought he was just in a lot of pain, and that he was trying to keep himself together, gritting his teeth as he stumbled and jolted through the forest, every misstep a shot of pain through his nerves. But he realized, perhaps an hour ago, that the sick look he held was closer to fear than anything else, and he was holding back tears more than anyone else was. Daichi himself was terrified and anxious and horribly unhappy, and he had two good legs to walk and run on. 

So they stopped. 

And Bokuto shook his head. 

"We need to keep going. We have to get out of here. We can't stay in the forest," he was saying looking around. "I don't want to stop moving. I don't want to stop here."

Daichi looked at his phone. The battery life was just over 25%, meaning it might be dead by morning. So he shut it off to converse the life of it - if he thought for whatever reason they might get cell reception, he'd turn it back on. 

"It's almost ten," Daichi said. "We've been walking for like… seven hours. It's pitch black, and we're just going to trip and hurt ourselves."

"Sawamura is right," Ushihima said, voice low. "Oikawa needs to rest, and we're all exhausted."

"I don't want to sleep in a forest, I want to go  _ home _ ," Bokuto growled, turning to look back down the narrow, deer-trail they'd been following. "I… mhm…"

Kuroo came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, man," he said. "I want to go home too. But stumbling through the night isn't going to work that well. We may as well get some rest and keep going when it's light."

Bokuto clenched his fists, then nodded and turned back to look at them. "Well where are we going to stop? Just here, in the middle of the brambles and the bushes and the bugs and the night time?"

Daichi glanced around their immediate area - it held no resemblance to a campsite, or even a trail. It was a narrow, tiny path carved by animals, ringed on both sides by thick, curling undergrowth. The trees were thin and narrow, with high branches, and their roots small and shallow, making them easy to trip over. 

"I… I guess so," Kuroo said, quieter. Daichi looked back to where Oikawa was. 

"It'll do," he agreed, nodding slightly to Ushijima. The taller man shifted and helped Oikawa down to the ground. He grunted in pain, visibly wincing in discomfort as he was set against the tree. 

"Sorry for holding you guys back," he said, once he realized everyone was looking at him. 

"Don't worry about it-"

"Seriously," Oikawa interrupted. "If I could walk faster, you might have covered more ground and gotten back to the city."

"Oh, shut up," Kuroo said. 

"Seriously, shut up," Daichi agreed. "Nothing about this is your fault."

Bokuto landed heavily on the ground, dropping like a stone now that he realized it was seriously over for the day. 

It was over. 

They were lost. 

That hit Daichi sort of like a truck, crashing into him with wave after wave of horror. They were freaking  _ lost _ . Lost! In the middle of mountainous woods with an injured friend and no water and nothing to keep them warm and they were  _ lost _ . They could  _ die. _

They…

They could die. 

Daichi turned around slowly, putting his back to the others and scratching his head. They could actually die out here. They didn't have water, and he had no idea if they had any food left on them. They had no shelter, and there were wild animals and tons of ways to injure themselves… 

Nobody would ever know what happened to them. 

"God, I'm starving," Bukoto complained, pulling his backpack onto his lap. "What are we gonna do about food?"

Daichi turned back to look at the group. 

"Right, food," Kuroo agreed, swinging his bag off his shoulder to open it. "I think I've got something… but…"

"We should save it?" Ushijima guessed.

"Yeah," Kuroo said. "We don't have a lot… and…"

_ And we might not make it out any time soon. _

"We don't know how long we'll need to make it last."  
Daichi pulled his bag around, still feeling numb to the whole thing. Maybe he had something left in his bag that he hadn't eaten. Daichi hadn't even felt hunger, yet, since they'd left the end of the trail. It felt like years and years ago that they'd been lounging in the warm sun, but the anxiety and fear of the situation had kept his mind off his stomach. 

But now he was beginning to feel the hunger pains clawing at him. He clenched his jaw slightly, but rooted around in his bag. 

He found a granola bar down at the bottom of the bag, which he'd saved in case he got hungry on the trail back. 

Kuroo looked up from his back. "I've got some rice crackers left."

Bokuto shook the remaining cookies he had around in their container. 

"My mother was super worried about me having enough energy, she packed a ton - well, not that much. But there should be three or four nut bars in my bag…" Oikawa mumbled, pulling it around to open. After a moment he said: "Yeah, I've got three… they got a little crushed, because I fell down a mountain, but…"

"We appreciate it anyway," Daichi said, trying to force a chuckle so everything sounded normal. 

"I didn't say I was sharing!"

"I didn't say I was carrying you out of these woods, either," Ushijima replied. 

"I've decided I'm sharing," Oikawa said. 

Daichi actually did chuckled at that, then found a tree and slid down the rough bark. The mossy grass was squishy and slightly damp, and the dirt was rough, and the ground hard. He didn't think he was going to sleep at all. 

Kuroo was the last one left standing, but eventually he just plopped down beside Bokuto and flopped his head down against his knees. 

"So… do we have a plan for what to do with the food?"

"Split it evenly and spread it out?" Ushijima suggested. 

"Easy to say when you don't have any left," Bokuto mumbled. 

"I'll remind you that I'm the only one with any water left," he replied.

"Guys," Daichi said, firmly. "Let's not do this."

"Do this?"

" _ This _ . Turning on each other. We're not animals… This is horrible, and scary, and it's cold as hell and I hate it so much, but we all have people we want to get home to, so we should try and work together, and be kind to each other."

"Go Cap'n," Kuroo mumbled, from his knees. "Give that sweet-ass pep talk."

"It's not a pep talk," Daichi said. "It's a fact. We're strong, fit, and we'll have plenty of time tomorrow to find our way out. We'll be okay." 

Bokuto nodded slowly. "Right," he agreed. "This is just like… camping."

"It's… not…  _ not _ camping," Oikawa agreed, slowly. 

They all nodded along and settled back. It wasn't comfortable in any way, and Daichi struggled to think about how he might actually get any rest. He considered laying to the side, curling up at the foot of the tree, but there was a branch with thick green leaves that didn't look very much like a bed. 

"So…" Oikawa said, after a moment, one hand lightly rubbing his knee as if the swelling and pain could be massaged out of it. "What do you think everyone else is doing right now?"

"Dude!"

"Not exactly what I want to be thinking about!"

"I'm sorry!" Oikawa said, backtracking quickly. "I'm just… thinking about my mom, and Iwai, and all the people I promised to text by dinnertime. Do you think they're looking for us?"

Daichi tilted his head back against the tree. Through the canopy he could see the black sky, a deep indigo hue so vibrantly dotted with stars that it almost looked like silver. Way out here, the light pollution faded away and the full glory of the milky way was on display. 

Though beautiful, it was not comforting. It meant they had not gotten very close to the parking lot - if anything, they were further away than ever before. 

"Kenma probably hasn't even noticed I'm gone," Kuroo said, a painful sort of laugh in his voice. It was fond, though, but disconcerting - the type of fondness one uses when someone is already gone, and never to be seen again. "Sometimes he's so wrapped up in his game, he'll go whole days without even looking at his phone. He's probably playing video games right now… Stupid kid should be in bed."

Daichi smiled slightly. He didn't want to say Suga's name. He didn't want to implicate the boy to be on par with the relationships Oikawa and Kuroo had with  _ their _ setters. Relationships built over years and years of growth and friendship. He'd only met Suga in their first year, after all. Not exactly the childhood friend one would long for. 

And yet, more than anything else, even more than he thought of his family, he thought of Suga. He thought of how he was probably asleep by now, though only if he managed to finish all his homework. Suga didn't go to bed before he finished his homework. 

Daichi rolled his head to the side, sick of looking at the stars, and found himself staring off at Bokuto and Kuroo. Kuroo still had his head down, and Bokuto's eyes were wide and longing and gazing off without focus into the woods. 

"So? Think anyone's going to come find us?" Oikawa prompted again, and Daichi realized that he hadn't been trying to make idle chit chat, or reminisce fondly, but that he was genuinely looking for someone to tell him it would be alright. That someone was coming. 

"Akaashi will find me," Bokuto said, after a moment. "Akaashi always pulls through for me, no matter how bad a position I find myself in."

Daichi smiled slightly. "Someone will notice we're gone," he agreed. 

"Of course someone will notice," Ushijima said, nodding. "This place will be swarming with search crews before we know it." 

"You sure?" Oikawa said, voice tired. 

"Very sure. And if not, we have good friends. They will look for us."

\---

Daichi did not manage to sleep. Actually, he wasn't sure who  _ did _ manage to sleep. What he did know is that everyone agreed not to eat anything tonight, and instead to eat in the morning, so they'd at least pretend to be full for the whole day of walking. 

Kuroo looked like he might have fallen asleep, body slumped back around the trunk of a tree. Oikawa, too, seemed particularly quiet. Ushijima was sitting up, head back against the tree Oikawa was laying near, but his back was stiff. He looked awake, or at least, not asleep. He might have dozed in and out. 

Bokuto was awake. He was shivering in the cold, eyes big and wide and that faraway look at only grown worse as the night progressed. He was practically shaking with the effort of not outright crying. 

Daichi tried not to openly watch him, and smacked at mosquitoes that bit at him in frustration. Bugs and the chill made the long, long hours even longer, but at the very least, it didn't rain. 

His fingers were frozen, thought, and no matter what he did, he couldn't get them to warm up. 

If they were truly trapped out here like this… he wondered if they'd put more effort into the next night, or two, or god forbid three or four or five. 

He tried to remember how to make a fire. He tried to remember how to build a shelter, how to find fresh water, how to catch fish or scavenge for berries. 

Realistically, if they never escaped the forest, how long did they have before elements or dehydration killed them?

He heard Bokuto break, shifting in the undergrowth as he drew his knees up and curled up, a soft, heart-wrenching sob breaking through the suffocating silence. Daichi felt his stomach and heart constrict, but he closed his eyes and didn't say anything. 

Ushijima tilted his head to the side, looking across the forest to where Bokuto was, but he also said nothing. 

Nobody said anything, because there was nothing to say. 

\---

Daichi surprised himself by waking up to sunlight - the keyword being waking up. He didn't know when he'd fallen asleep or how much sleep he got, but everything in his body ached. With the hours and hours of climbing followed by the curled up, awkward position he'd rested in, his body was painfully unprepared for movement. 

He scratched at his arm, where bug bites littered his skin like freckles, and looked around the desperate group. 

Ushijima was already awake, looking through his bag as if a new miracle might appear. 

Bokuto was standing off to the side, leaning against a tree. That frantic, panic-fueled energy seemed to have been ripped out of him, and Daichi decided it wasn't the time to try and boost their morale. 

Kuroo knelt by Oikawa, looking at his knee. 

"You're up," Ushijima commented, and Daichi gave him a nod. He was the last one awake. 

"How's his knee?" Daichi asked, stretching his back out the best he could given the circumstances. 

"Bad," Kuroo said, and Oikawa winced as he touched it. "It was already inflamed, right, from the walking? Well he must have smashed it against something as he fell, the swelling is  _ horrible _ . I'm not a doctor, though, could be any number of things."

"Do we have any way to brace it?" Daichi yawned, turning his head slightly as he watched Ushijima stand up. 

"I don't know," Kuroo said. "I really… I just… I don't know what to do. I don't know what will help it."

"Pressure would help the swelling," Ushijima said. "At least a little, and might help stabilize it."

"Do we have something we can use for that?" Oikawa asked, lifting his head somewhat hopefully as he looked around. 

Daichi hesitated slightly, then tugged off his jacket and handed it down to Kuroo. "Try that," he said. 

"Daich-"

"Don't," Daichi said. "It's probably going to be hot today, anyway, and this way I won't have to carry my jacket. Win-win." 

Oikawa stared at him for a moment, then looked away, mumbling a soft and very sincere thank you under his breath. Daichi nodded slightly, watching as Kuroo started trying to makeshift some kind of brace. Oikawa continued to hiss and flinch in pain, but let him work. 

"How does that feel?" Kuroo asked, when he was finished. 

"Useless?" Oikawa said. "This doesn't feel like it's doing anything."

"Because you need medical help," Kuroo replied. "This is the next best thing to getting a proper pad and brace on your knee, which is the next best thing to a cast or  _ hospital _ , since there's a good chance that's broken…" 

Oikawa closed his eyes. "Okay, okay, sorry I asked."

Everyone focused on themselves for a moment. They split up the food they had and each at half of one of the bars. It was barely anything, and some part of Daichi wanted to say  _ let's just eat it all, it'll be fine, we'll be out of here in 3 hours _ . But he held back, and he restrained himself. Because what else could they do but play it safe? 

Ushijima handed the water bottle he had left to everyone. There was only a little bit left in it, and that would have to be their next priority. How long could someone go without water. Three days? 

Ushijima, Oikawa and Kuroo took small, polite sips, trying to make the water last. Daichi was handed the bottle and he looked at the pitiful half-swallow left, then mimed taking a sip and handed it over to Bokuto. 

Bokuto hadn't even really been paying attention, thankfully, as he finished it, and handed the empty bottle back to Ushijima to tuck away. 

"If we're not moderately confident we know where we are by like, noon," Kuroo said. "Then I'm changing our priority to finding water. A stream or whatever will do."

"That's a good plan," Oikawa said, letting Ushijima help him up. Bokuto moved around to tuck himself under Oikawa's other arm and help support him. "But if we can't find an entire goddamn parking lot, how are we supposed to find water?"

"We'll make it work," Daichi said, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Alright, captains," he said, hoping to make light of the situation with a proud voice and bouncing attitude. "Let's get a move on. We got people to get home to."


	4. Captain of Captains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for such a lovely response! All your comments are so so so so appreciated and I'm so glad everyone is loving this story as much as I am! I hope you enjoy the next chapter :)

It was just a day of walking, that's all. A painful, long, terrifying day of walking. One of the worst days of walking Daichi had ever personally had to experience, actually. Truly the worst, 0/5 stars. 

Mostly, it sucked because he was hungry, and thirsty, and his feet hurt by noon and his arm was itchy as all hell. After scratching and scratching and scratching his arm until he was well and truly bleeding, Ushijima made a very relevant comment. 

"That doesn't look like a mosquito bite."

Daichi looked down at his arm, which he'd been happily trying to tear the skin off of just a moment before. Amid the dozens of small bug bites that littered his skin, a swelling had started to grow by his wrist, a swelling had started to form, the center of which had a small, bloody bite mark. It was definitely bigger than anything else on his arm. 

"Yeah…" Daichi agreed, still scratching at his arm as he lifted it up to take a closer look at the swelling. "Spider, maybe?"

"Stop scratching at it."

"It's really itchy," Daichi replied, continuing to scratch at it. 

"Stop."

"I know it-"

Ushijima just smacked his hand, thoroughly surprising Daichi and stunning him into compliance. After a moment, Ushijima spoke again, with:

"You're making it worse for yourself. That swelling could get pretty bad."  
Daichi slowly lowered his hands, stuffing his known swollen hand into his pocket to try and keep it still and resist scratching again. "Right."

Ushijima stared at him, then glanced back to where Kuroo and Bokuto were helping Oikawa. 

Silence fell again, and all Daichi was left with was the painful itching and burning sensation in his wrist. God, he really hated this forest now. 

They walked for a little bit longer. On occasion, Oikawa would try to put his leg down, and everyone would wince as he gave a sharp sort of exclamation, followed by a string of curses. Kuroo rubbed his back as supportively as he could, before adjusting lower under him to take more of Oikawa's weight up. 

And they continued to walk. 

Daichi continued to resist scratching his hand, and the hunger in his stomach, and everything else he hated about this. 

The forest was unfamiliar at every turn. And as the sun rose higher into the sky, the temperature rose and rose and rose and started making it difficult to focus on anything else but the heat, making even the smartest parts of Daichi's brain fuzzy and in pain. 

"What are we going to do about water?" Kuroo called. They'd swapped out a while ago, and it was Daichi's turn helping Oikawa, with Bokuto on the opposite side. "I don't see any indication of a trail or the edge of the forest or anything at all. It's hot, we're tired, and I don't know about you all, but this walking is starting to feel very, very useless."

"I don't know," Daichi called. "What are our other options than to walk?"

"Stay put?" Kuroo replied, turning back to him. 

Daichi glanced over at Bokuto, the other expressing a very similar look to the way Daichi felt. 

"I mean… We can't just stop trying to find our way out, right?"

"Think about it!" Kuroo said. "We can not keep wandering in circles forever, right? That's pointless. And for all we know, we're walking further and further  _ away _ from the city - which means extra hours, extra days, until a search crew finds us."

"So… set up a camp?" Bokuto said. "Play _house_ in the woods?"

"It's better that wandering any further in the wrong direction," Kuroo replied. "The closer to a city we are the better. And with Oikawa's leg, we're practically torturing him trying to do twelve hours of walking a day."

"I'm fine," Oikawa said, lifting his head from where he had started to slouch against Daichi's shoulder. "I mean, no, this is truly hell, but don't worry about me. I can manage."

"I don't want to just stop moving, though," Bokuto said. 

"Yeah," Oikawa agreed. "What if nobody comes to find us?"

"Someone will call the police," Daichi assured him. 

"But they might now send out a full search and rescue," Oikawa replied. "Or they could miss us, or go in the wrong direction, or just not find us. What if whoever calls gets the wrong trail, and they're looking fifty kilometers west of here?"

"We have to have a little bit of faith," Kuroo said. "Come on, someone will come to find us. And staying put might be the best chance."

"I agree," Ushijima said. "We have a better chance finding a good campsite, near water, and trying to wait it out."  
"But what if help doesn't _come_ ," Bokuto stressed. "What if we end up spending three weeks sitting on our asses while we're only ten kilometers from a road?" 

"Ten kilometers in which direction, Bokuto?" Kuroo replied. "Pick, go, we'll walk that way."

Bokuto hung his head, looking upset more at the reminder of their hopelessness more that Kuroo's sharp tone. 

After a moment, Ushijima looked over to Daichi, nodding to him. "What do you think?"

Daichi blinked in surprise, finding all the eyes turning to him. Everyone waited, watching to see what he thought they should do. He thought about it for a moment, then said: "Let's find a place to rest."

Bokuto grumbled slightly, but Oikawa looked slightly relieved. 

"There we go, someone with a head on his shoulders," Kuroo replied, nodding and turning to look around, hoping to find some sign or something pointing them to a good campsite. 

"At least for a day," Daichi added quickly. "I don't think we're going to find the parking lot today - Bokuto  _ is _ right, it could only be a few meters out of our line of vision, but let's be practical. We're all starving. And I do not want to die in the woods. If we're going to do another long day of walking tomorrow, we're going to have to have something to eat and drink, or we'll waste away."

Ushijima nodded. "A good point. Let's find somewhere to rest, and try to find some way to energize ourselves."

Daichi looked across to Bokuto. 

"Does that sound alright? Take a day, maybe too and try and figure out a sustainable way to get out of here?"

Bokuto nodded slowly. "If you think it's best, I guess that's okay…"

"Okay, that's settled," Kuroo said, nodding slightly, then turning to look around again. "So let's keep going - look out for any good spots to try and set up a bit of a camp…"

Ushijima nodded, turning to lead the way back through the forest. 

And then it was walking, and walking, and walking again. Ten minutes, then twenty. Ushijima circled back from the front and took over Daichi with Oikawa, which he was thankful for. 

He pulled away carefully, scratching absently at his wrist.

"Sawamura."

He pulled his hands apart, looking away from Ushijima and refusing to acknowledge him. 

And so they kept walking. 

\---

The ground had begun to get steeper and steeper again, which made walking tough for Oikawa and those trying to help him. It was really hard to balance carrying someone like that, and it was even harder to walk down a hill with one leg. 

Daichi tried to stay ahead of the small group, in case one of them slipped, hoping to maybe catch them. Even if the most likely result was him getting taken down with them. 

Bokuto was on ahead, scouting out the immediate path ahead of them and trying to decide on the least dangerous path down the hill. Daichi was torn between keeping an eye on him and keeping an eye on the Oikawa, and really there was no good option. 

"Life would be better without these stupid mosquitoes," Kuroo muttered, shaking his head to try and get them off his face. 

"Yeah, bug spray would be a lifesaver right now," Oikawa agreed, mumbling under his breath. Daichi nodded a sort of agreement, before turning his head as Bokuto's shout caught his attention. 

"Guys! Hey! What about this?"

Daichi trotted along ahead, coming to a stop by Bokuto as he almost proudly presented a slightly less undergrowth-y part of the forest. A narrow strip of moss and tree roots stretching past an animal trail. Daichi looked up to the trees, and the canopy, then around at the forest. The hills rose above them and behind them, then sloped down again, but their position here was mostly flat. Mostly.   
"It's not perfect," Kuroo murmured. "But it might be best to stop for at leas-"

"Shut up," Ushijima said, suddenly, eyes widening with alertness. Daichi kept his mouth shut, glancing around. 

"What is it?" Bokuto asked, earning a glare from Ushijima. 

"Listen."

And Daichi listened, straining his ears to try and figure out what Ushijima had noticed. Something coming towards them? Perhaps a car from a-

Water. 

"That's the sound of water," Oikawa said, lifting his head hopefully. "Oh, my god, that's the sound of water."

"Water!" Bokuto shouted, turning hurriedly around in a circle. Energy was beginning to trickle back into the guy, optimism spiking by finding a reasonable spot to rest, supposedly near water. "Which direction, though, it sounds like it's coming from everywhere at once."

Kuroo shook his head. "It'll be downhill, somewhere."

"Right."  
"Okay, let's go get water right now," Bokuto said. "I'm dying of thirst."

Daichi nodded, then glanced back to Oikawa. "Oikawa should wait here," he said, after a moment. "The ground looks like it's only going to get steeper. We can take the water bottles and fill them up for him."

Oikawa huffed slightly, but nodded. "Are you just going to leave me to sit here alone?"

"Someone will stay with you," Daichi assured him. Leaving Oikawa wouldn't be a huge deal, since they probably wouldn't be gone too long, but with his knee, on the off chance something  _ did _ happen… 

"That's the best idea," Ushijima agreed. "Thought splitting up isn't ideal."

"What if we can't find our way back to the spot here?" Kuroo asked.

"Just shout," Daichi replied. "We can all shout, still. If we can hear the water, we can definitely hear each other." 

"So who's staying with Oikawa," Bokuto said, practically bouncing on his heels. "Oikawa, love you, you're awesome, but I  _ really _ want to find that water right now." 

Oikawa just sort of glared at him. 

"I'll stay," Daichi said, before anyone else could say anything to offend the already fairly upset setter. "You all go - just bring back tons of water for us, okay? And I'll want someone to show me where it is later."

"Understood," Ushijima replied. 

"Yes! Okay! Now let's go track down that water!" Bokuto called, turning and heading eagerly down the hill again, following the distant and quiet sounds of the water. Kuroo and Ushijima carefully helped Oikawa to the ground. Ushijima took Daichi and Oikawa's water bottle, before following Kuroo hurriedly after Bokuto, to prevent him from getting too far ahead. 

Daichi watched them disappear, feeling anxiety suddenly swarm over them without the protective community that was the other three captains. Now it was just him, and Oikawa, alone with the woods stretching around them. At least the sun was still out, and the forest was lit up a warm green shade. 

He sighed and slowly moved to sit down next to Oikawa. 

"Thanks for not leaving me here to suffer," Oikawa murmured. 

"Of course," Daichi replied. "We're not leaving you behind, Oikawa," he assured him, looking down to his knee. "And we don't care that you got hurt, either, that sounded more supportive in my head, I'm sorry." 

Oikawa snickered, then broke into laughter, shifting his weight so that he could lean back against the tree better. 

"You're awful," he said. "But a good friend, however badly worded."

Daichi smiled slightly, happy to see that Oikawa was still capable of laughter, even after all that had happened. It was a good bit of moral boosting, that's for sure. 

"You think?" he said. 

"Yeah," Oikawa said. "You're a good leader, too. I see why you're a captain, now." 

"It wasn't obvious before?"

"You're not exceptional, at volleyball," he replied, quite frankly. "I had always kind of wondered - I mean, you're really good, don't get me wrong. You can even pick up my serves, but… like Ushijima, Bokuto… they're  _ scary _ players."

He chuckled softly. "You're pretty scary too, on the court," he said. 

Oikawa smiled slightly. "I try."

He smiled in return, then looked down to his hands, unsure how to respond to all that. He had never thought of himself as an especially good captain. It all felt so hopeless, sometimes, with their incredibly talented players, running off to training camps and special practices. They always stayed so late, they put so much effort in. He was immensely proud of them, but how was he supposed to captain someone with more drive than himself? 

"You know that everyone here is looking to you, right?" Oikawa said after a moment. 

"Huh?"

"As the captain of the captains. Surely you've noticed, whenever there was a fork in the trail, they'd look back to you. Whenever they didn't know if they should stop or keep going, whenever they got stuck. They'd all look at you. It's subtle, and I don't think they realize they're doing it."

"You did?" 

"It's easier thinking about that than the horrible pain I'm currently enduring."

"Drama queen."

"Shut up."

Daichi smiled for a second, then said: "I'm just trying my best. If anything, I thought Kuroo was in charge. He's the smartest of us. Or Ushijima, I feel like he could wrestle a tiger and win."

Oikawa nodded. "Probably. But again, that doesn't make them natural leaders. Just makes them scary."

He smiled slightly, then said: "We don't have anything in common but volleyball, do we?" 

"I mean," Oikawa said slowly. "We  _ are _ both trapped in a forest in Gunma. That's a pretty big commonality."

"Right, right," Daichi agreed. "But apart from… that… I feel like I don't even know you. I only know you as a captain and a volleyball player… not as a person."

Oikawa shrugged. "I have an older sister," he said, after a moment. 

"Oh? I have four younger siblings."

" _Shit_. No wonder you're so good at babying us. How much younger?"  
"Quite a bit younger," he replied. "And… yeah…"

"So like, what's harder to manage, the Karasuno volleyball team or that family?" 

"Oh, it- uhm-" Daichi frowned, squinting slightly. "That is… a question. One that I definitely, I mean, obviously my family is harder, the kids are crazy and they  _ never _ stop shouting and fighting…"

"That… sounds a little bit like you're describing Karasuno, though."

"Yeah I know."

They both laughed there, and there was more of a comfort in it. 

"Oh, and… My names Tooru, by the way." 

Daichi looked up at him. 

"You should use it. If you want."

"Oh, we're friends now?" Daichi said, raising his eyes. "Oh, I never said I wanted to be friends with the Great King. You're the enemy, what would my team think?" 

Oikawa gasped in fake-offense. "I rescind my bonding moment."

\---

Bokuto, Kuroo and Ushijima moved quicker than they had all day to reach the water. It took a few false starts, but eventually they found a moderately managably path down the steepest parts of the hill. Then suddenly the sound of water was louder, and after pushing through the thick green undergrowth, boots stepped down and splashed against shallow water. 

"Woah!" Bokuto said, looking down at the wet toes of his boots with wide eyes. "Oh!"

"Water!" 

"Water!"

" _ Water! _ "

" _ Water!" _

"Stop it," Ushijima said, putting his hands on both of their shoulders.

"Sorry, I got excited," Bokuto replied, more meekly. He scratched the back of his neck, before looking down again. "This is… tiny…"

"And muddy," Kuroo mumbled. "Drinking this doesn't… it's probably not safe…"  
"Sawamura and Oikawa are counting on us," Ushijima said, then nodded upstream. "That way, it'll only get stronger the higher up we go." 

Kuroo nodded, then pulled away to start up the stream. "Let's go!" 

"Yeah! Let's go!" Bokuto shouted, taking off after Kuroo. Ushijima smiled slightly, and perhaps it was the dehydration, but he was quite happy to chase after them up the slight hill again. 

\---

"Iwai was really mad at me," Oikawa was laughing. "He didn't know what was going on, at first, but once he realized that I had given him the wrong directions, my phone would  _ not _ stop ringing." 

"Oh my god," Daichi said. "You're sort of an asshole."

"It's not my fault!" Oikawa insisted. "The girl was  _ awful _ . She was a nightmare, and she was clearly just after him to have a piece of eye candy. She didn't deserve him."

Daichi smiled. "I'll keep you in mind next time I have to… ruin someone's date." 

"I am very good at it," Oikawa agreed. 

"Do you do it a lot?"

"Not a lot," he defended himself. "Just… a significantly higher number than average."

Daichi laughed, a little bit louder, snorting softly in the process. Oikawa smiled, happy that Daichi was amused but not entirely sure how to convey the fact that he hadn't been making a joke. 

"Is it always Iwaizumi's dates?"

"Usually."

"You like him a lot, don't you?" 

And silence fell. Daichi continued to watch Oikawa, studying the pretty features of his face in a way he never had, nor ever really intended to. Pink lips, a small nose, warm brown eyes and hair that was usually styled to look wild and messy, but was now genuinely wildly and messy and had several small twigs and bits in it. 

"I do," Oikawa said, voice soft after a moment. "I've known him since I was a child, I quite literally can't imagine my life without him by my side." 

Daichi smiled again, more softly, before looking off in the direction the others had gone. It had been a good few minutes, they should be back soon. 

"What about you?" Oikawa prompt. "Anyone special back in the civilized world?" 

Daichi looked over to him. "Yeah," he replied. 

"Do tell."

"I actually had a date tonight," he replied, heart aching just at the mention of it. 

"I had actually asked him out on a date. We were going to get dinner, I was going to bring flowers…" 

"Him?" Oikawa said. 

"Surprise?"

"Not really."

"Fair."

\--- 

"Water!" Bokuto is shouting, before taking a leap and stomping down into the water, arms swinging up in victory. " _ Water! _ "

Kuroo gave a shout as well, grinning as he watched the stream, now substantially more active, bubble and swirl it's way down the hill. It was maybe only a few inches deep, but the water ran clear and it was  _ cold _ . 

Bokuto scooped some up with his water bottle, tossing it back like a shot with a loud sound of appreciation. Kuroo mimicked the movement, filling his water bottle and gulping it down like it had been four days. 

Ushijima filled Daichi and Oikawa's water bottles first, then filled his own and started to drink. 

Kuroo spun and kicked at the water, splashing it up and across Bokuto's knees, causing him to laugh. Shortly, half a water bottle of the wonderful cold water was doused over Kuroo's head. 

"Oh, god, that feels so good," Kuroo groaned, watching as Bokuto filled his own water bottle and dumped it over his own head. He shook like a dog, and Kuroo laughed, shoving him back. 

Ushijima watched them with a smile as they continued to play, enjoying the peace of the victory, and the hopeful energy that was building in them. Water. Water, water. 

He didn't think this was a river or anything that was mapped, but maybe if they followed it, it would grow stronger and bigger and they'd be able to find a trail. 

He didn't notice Kuroo and Bokuto filling their water bottles in tandem, then slowly approaching him. 

Then he was soaked. 

\---

"Water!" 

Daichi jerked his head up, eyes widening in excitement as Bokuto, Kuroo and Ushijima happily trotted back into view, all of them looking wet and excited. They found water. 

Oikawa sat up, wincing as he moved his knee. "You guys did it!"

"Of course we did!" Bukoto called, giving a rather pointless shout of excitement. "We're the  _ best _ . We found water!"

"Gimme-"

Ushijima was already handing their water bottles over, and Daichi happily opened it to drink, downing it rapidly. God, it was cold, and tasted clear and slightly iron-y, but he didn't mind. It was delicious. 

Oikawa closed his eyes in relief as he let the water bottle down, taking a deep breath. "Thank god."

"Thank god indeed," Daichi agreed. 

"We can follow the stream," Ushijima said. "I'm sure if we do, we'll find something upstream."

"We're not going to stay here?" Oikawa asked, pulling the leg he could move in close to his body. "I thought we were going to rest here."

Daichi noticed it this time, the way Bokuto and Kuroo and even Ushijima glance in his direction, watching for his reaction. 

"We will for today," he said. "And tonight."

"Right," Kuroo agreed, before glancing at Bokuto. "We should see if we can find anything edible."

Ushijima nodded. "Of course."

"I am starting to really starve," Bokuto agreed. "Don't we still have some food left?"

"We do," Daichi said. "But let's  _ try _ and find something in the woods. If not, we'll eat what we have left…"

Despite the worry in his voice, it wasn't quite enough to bring down the victorious mood. 

Daichi pushed himself up to his feet. "Let's get foraging."

"Yeah! Foraging!" Bokuto shouted, before disappearing off into the woods. 

"As a  _ group! _ " Daichi shouted after him, before sighing. He felt Ushijima put a hand on his shoulder. 

"I'm going to see if I can make it more comfortable for tonight, see if I can find any good dry wood for a fire…"

"Okay," he said. "That sounds good."

"And I'm chasing Bokuto," Kuroo replied, turning to take off after the now energetic captain. 

Oikawa grunted softly, pushing himself up to his feet, face pained as he held himself against the tree. 

"And I refuse to be useless. I'm gonna… uh…"

"Rest," Daichi said. "You need to rest."

"I'll watch out for him," Ushijima assured him, before anyone could fight back. 

Daichi nodded, then turned to follow Kuroo and Bokuto into the woods. 

\--- 

Suga curled up on his bed. The sun was setting, the sky was turning a dusky blue shade, light cutting through his drawn blinds and scattering across his room. He bit onto the blanket of his bed to stop himself from sobbing so loudly it would draw attention to him. 

He clutched his phone tightly in his hands, feeling sick to his stomach and light headed. 

The last message from Akaashi, sent three hours ago, read itself aloud in his head over and over and over again. 

_ I've called the police. They're opening an investigation. _

An investigation. 

Into Daichi. 

What if he never comes back? What if Suga never got to tell him how much he loved those stupid dimples he had, or how much he wanted to hold his hand, or kiss his nose. What if he never got to hug him again at all, or even look at him. 

What if this was it. 

What if this would be forever? 

He heard his bedroom door crack open, and he curled up tighter on reflex. Whoever had come to check on him, his mom, probably, felt it unnecessary to interrupt him, and a moment later the door shut gently again. 

And Suga cried. 


	5. Come Back to Me

The energy changed rapidly, once all the boys realized that they were not, in fact, wilderness survival experts. Nor were any of their friends. 

Something about Ushijima and Kuroo had told Daichi that they'd be able to just… create fire, or something. He'd thought for sure Ushijima would just whip out survival expertise and craft a perfect shelter, and that Kuroo had in depth perfect knowledge of all edible plants and could guide them to finding them. 

Instead, he watched with a growing sense of horror in the darkness as Kuroo chewed on the edge of a plant. 

"I dunno man," he said after a moment. "Tastes kinda poisonous." 

Daichi put his hands over his eyes. 

So far, they've found a few things. Small red berries they weren't 100% sure of the quality of, but they all agreed that they were pretty sure you weren't supposed to eat red berries, and then a handful of brown mushrooms on a log that sure  _ looked _ like the ones you bought in a grocery store, but very well could also be poisonous. 

And now Kuroo was just eating leaves off random bushes, hoping to find something that tasted like anything that wouldn't make them sick. 

He spat onto the ground, scrunching his nose up. 

"I don't know, guys," he said, looking back to Bokuto. "Do we keep looking?"

"We  _ have _ to keep looking," Bokuto said, fistfuls of probably-poisonous-mushrooms in his hands. "What are our other options?"

Daichi shook his head slowly. "I think we go back to the others," he said. "There's no point in this, we're not going to find anything we recognize."

"What if we like… made a trap, and caught a squirrel, or something?" Bokuto offered. "We can do that, right?"

"I… have no idea how we'd go about doing that," Kuroo replied, shaking his head. 

"Let's head back," Daichi repeated. "The sun is starting to set, and I'd rather not be stuck trying to navigate our way out here at night."

Bokuto stared at him for a moment, before sighing softly and turning to head back the way they'd come. 

After the hyped up success of finding water, things had started to feel okay again. Almost like they'd gone on a camping trip, or were just playing a game. It was easy to forget their predicament when the sun was shining and warm and everyone was laughing and smiling. Sitting in the woods with Oikawa had been a pleasant and needed break from the anxiety of being lost in the goddamn woods. 

They made it back to the small patch of forest they'd chosen to stay in. 

Ushijima was holding a handful of small, leafy twigs, frustration etched across his usually calm face. Oikawa was sitting with his bad leg stretched out beside him. 

"This doesn't look promising," Daichi said, resignation already creeping into his voice. 

Ushijima looked up at him. "I am… really sorry," he said. "Everything in the woods are green, and I don't have a lighter… nor do I know how to start a fire…"

"Don't you have to rub the sticks together?" Kuroo said. Ushijima glared up at him. 

"If you think you can do better, go ahead."

Kuroo stared at him, then huffed and walk off to the other side of their little clearing.

"Besides," Ushijima went on. "It doesn't look like any of you have anything to show, either."

"We do not," Daichi agreed, sighing and sitting down beside him. "Bokuto's been carrying around a handful of mushrooms, but we haven't been able to decide if we should eat them." 

"Let me see," Ushijima said, and Bokuto handed the mushrooms down to him. He took a moment to expect them, all brown and white. Wild mushrooms always looked quite a bit different than cultivated and farmed ones. "I think they're just enoki." 

Oikawa looked over his shoulder, then said: "That's a funeral bell," he said. "You'll die."

Ushijima glanced over to him. "You think?"

"I'm sure."

"But they're so white…"

"You know what," Oikawa said. "Do ahead, do a taste test for us."

Ushijima looked down at the mushrooms, as if truly weighing the pros and cons of trying them out, then sighed and handed the handful back up to Bokuto. 

"Yeah," Daichi said. "That's the same conversation me and Kuroo had."

Bokuto gave a shout of frustration, before turning and just hurling the handful off into the bushes. "Stupid things!" he shouted. "God, why can't just one thing work?"

"We found water," Daichi reminded him. "We did that."

Bokuto groaned again, taking a deep breath. "I know, I know," he said. "I just… I miss… I want to be home. I'm tired of walking, tired of starving, tired of these stupid trees." 

Daichi smiled slightly, nodding. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, shut up," he growled, before turning to stalk off, crunching over bushes and leaves and undergrowth. Daichi watched him go with a growing concern in his stomach. 

Like the grim reaper himself, Kuroo spoke from behind them in a hauntingly low voice, as if not even realizing he was speaking: "One of us will die first." 

Oikawa jerked around, looking at him with alarm. "Dude what the  _ fuck? _ "

Kuroo looked up at him, a distant sort of glaze to his eyes, and he stared back at him. "I'm just saying," he said. "Whether it's heat and exhaustion, starvation, an animal, a fall, whatever… one of us has to die first."

"I don't think that's necessarily the best line of thinking for right now," Daichi said, slowly. 

"Are you suggesting cannibalism?" Ushijima said, more concerned in his tone. 

"Wh-no!" Kuroo said, more defensively. "Obviously not! I was just… We're all scared, man, but it's going to be a thousand times worse when it's  _ actually _ bad."

"What the hell do you mean  _ actually _ bad?" Oikawa snapped. "Things are pretty damn near garbage right about now."

"I mean-" Kuroo took a deep breath. "I mean when…  _ if _ … we don't get rescued."

"We won't get rescued," Daichi said, drawing the attention of everyone back to him. "We found the river, we'll follow it upstream, we'll find people again. We don't need to be rescued." 

"I would sure  _ like _ to be rescued," Oikawa replied. 

"Daichi is right," Ushijima said after a moment, glancing back to Oikawa and Kuroo. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We don't need to… worry about death and… whatever the hell Kuroo was thinking about. We'll be fine, we have a good plan now. There are always settlements along rivers." 

"We just need to get some rest tonight, and we'll be golden for tomorrow. I bet we'll be out of here before tomorrow night." 

"We better be," Kuroo said, before turning away slightly. The conversation dropped after that - after all, who could really follow that up. 

It was dark, and they needed rest. Kuroo and Bokuto found spots a little further from everyone else. Daichi, Oikawa and Ushijima stayed close together, shivering in the night. The stars weren't so glorious this night, covered heavily by clouds and darkness. 

Daichi, despite the exhaustion pulling at his mind and body, found it hard to sleep again. The itching in his hand had abated slightly, but he was still nauseous with anxiety and fear. And then-

Like a break in the sky, the clouds gave in and the rain started. He heard Ushijima groan and tug his jacket up over his head in frustration, and Daichi echoed the sentiment. Of  _ course _ it was raining, now. Of course it was. 

He was soaked in a matter of seconds, but almost just as quickly, he heard the sound of Bokuto breaking down into tears again. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard to block out the sobs that he tried so hard to muffle, that only seemed to spring to his eyes when they were alone in the darkness. 

He couldn't do it another night, though, and shakily and sorely pushed himself up to his feet and stumbled over to him. He was shivering fully, the only man who didn't even have a coat to protect him from the icy rain. 

"Daichi-" Bokuto began, noticing his approach. He could see that he'd moved and shuffled to hurriedly wipe his tears away, looking up at him. "Is everything okay?"

Daichi didn't bother to answer that, since it would be a lie no matter what he said, but just dropped down to sit beside him, leaning against the tree. Bokuto sniffed again, looking away. 

There was nothing to say. There were no words of comfort, no inspirational quotes to give. There was absolutely nothing. Nothing but the horrid rain and the freezing cold and the terrible darkness. 

So Daichi reached over and put a hand on Bokuto's shoulder, rubbing gently. He rocked with the motion before breaking into louder sobs again. 

He resisted the urge to offer comforting lies of  _ it's okay _ . Bokuto cried and cried, curling up more into himself. Daichi tugged on his shoulder, and he rolled over, collapsing against his shoulder and crying louder. Daichi wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly as he broke down. He understood. He wanted to go home too. He wanted to be safe, and warm, and not starving and with the people he cared about. 

The rain stung his skin, but Bokuto's body was warm. After a moment of this, with the sobbing and soft shushing, there was movement in his peripheral. 

Daichi tilted his head to the side, watching as Kuroo came over slowly, dragging his feet and seeming defeated. He moved around to Bokuto's other side, sitting down beside him and gently rubbing his back. After a moment of that, he just leaned over him fully, half against the tree. 

Shuffling. 

Ushijima was helping Oikawa up, basically carrying him as they stumbled over to the trio. Ushijima sat down on Daichi's other side, helping Oikawa down into the pile beside him. 

It was a human reflex - to be closest to the people you cared about, to be warm and feel protected, to huddle up and care for each other. Daichi found a deep tugging at his heart, something he hadn't expected to feel being surrounded by people just 3 days ago he hadn't even liked. People he now considered more important than anything else on the planet. 

"Come here," he murmured, as Oikawa struggled to get down with his bad knee, and find a comfortable spot. He welcomed one of his biggest rivals into his arms without a second though, letting him settle his head against his chest. 

He looked over to Ushijima. "You too," he murmured. Ushijima was more stiff about it, but tilted his head over to lay against Daichi's shoulder. 

He could feel the slow, anxious breathing radiating off everyone, and felt tears burning to his eyes. He didn't have the arms needed to protect everyone. He didn't have the words needed to keep their spirits up, nor the brain to get them food and a way out of here. 

But they weren't alone. And he'd do whatever he had to. 

\---

It was Monday morning. Suga and Asahi had already told coach Ukai. They'd told him first thing in the morning, standing in front of his shop with teary eyes and pain in their faces as they walked to work. He'd pulled them both into a tight, smothering hug and offered assurance that things would work out all right. 

But they still had to tell everyone else. 

With their delay at the shop, they were put behind in their usual schedule, making them the last to arrive for practice. This was extremely uncharacteristic of the third years, but the others did their best to stay on track, warming up with setting practice and stretches. 

They all turned as the third years entered, calling out jeers and taunts. 

_ Hey, there you are - sleep in or something?  _

_ Can't even be bothered to show up now, huh?  _

_ How are we going to get better if you don't show up on time? _

It was Nishinoya that noticed something was wrong first. He noticed it staring at Asahi, at the red shots through his eyes and the disheveled and messy bun his hair had been weakly tied up in, the rumple in his shirt and the generally unclean look about him. 

"Hey, guys," he said, noticing Suga looked even worse for wear, as if he hadn't even touched his hair when he got out of bed and barely remembered to put on shoes. "Is everything all right?" 

Suga stared at them all for a bit, and when no words came out he turned back to where Ukai had followed them, looking for guidance. 

"I need everyone to take a seat," Ukai said. 

The mood in the gym changed immediately. Even the goofier and louder of the team knew better than to act up right now. 

Suga didn't sit down, moving along the back of the gym and slipping out through the other doors. Everyone watched him do with pain in their faces. 

Everyone wanted to ask the same question:  _ If Daichi wasn't here, why were they holding a meeting? _

But the answer was so painfully obvious that none of them did. 

_ It was about Daichi. _

Asahi sat down, and Noya took a seat beside him, reaching out to put a hand on his leg. 

"Hey, man, what is going on, I'm starting to freak-"

Asahi just closed his eyes, tightly, and Nishinoya knew the man well enough to know how close he was to fully breaking down, so instead of pushing it, he turned his attention to coach Ukai. 

"As you can probably tell, I have some bad news," Ukai began, voice tense and unhappy. "On Saturday, Sawamura had been invited to Gunma for a hiking trip with several other volleyball captains in the country - you are all familiar with them, I believe. Bokuto Kotaro, Kuroo Tetsurou, Ushijima Wakatoshi, and Oikawa Tooru. As of this morning, none of them have been heard from since." 

Silence. Absolute silence. 

"Like… they haven't come back?" Tanaka asked slowly, a tone of disbelief in his voice. "Are they coming back?"

"The police were contacted Sunday morning," Ukai said. "And have been looking for them, but right now, we don't have any information on where they might be."

Asahi broke down, the third time that morning that he'd started to cry, and Noya lifted a hand up to rub his shoulder as comfortingly as he could. 

Hinata was looking around with wide eyes. Yamaguchi had moved to hold onto Tsukishima's elbow, and for once in his life the other didn't have anything to say, just looking blank and numb. 

"You're joking," Tanaka said. "You've got to be joking."

Ukai shook his head. "To give everyone a moment, I'm cancelling practice this morning. I'll make sure you all hear as quickly as possible if there are any updates, okay?"

A chorus of "okay's," echoed back. 

"I should go find Suga," Asahi said, once again finding himself in the position of furiously wiping his eyes as he stood up. "He's really not handling this well, I-"

Noya reached up to grab Asahi's wrist, tugging his hands away from his eyes. "You're going to hurt yourself rubbing that hard," he said. 

Asahi stared back at him, and the longer he stared, the more tears seemed to bubble up, and then he was crying again. Noya leaned in to wrap his arms around him, hugging him tightly. "He'll be okay. It's  _ Daichi _ , man. There's nothing that man can't do."

\---

"Is Kenma not going to practice at all with us?" Lev asked, staring over at where Kenma was sitting, PSP in his hands, staring at the screen like a moth to a flame. 

Yaku stopped what he was doing, glancing over at him. "I dunno, he's been like that a while… And you know Kenma, he's not going to do any work until he absolutely has to." 

"Right," Lev agreed, before slowly focusing back on setting the volleyball net up. 

He was surprised, though, when coach Nekomata came in, and put a hand on Kenma's shoulder. There was no orders to get back to work, no snapping, no nothing. Just a soft squeeze, before heading further into the gym. 

"Is Kenma sick?" Lev asked, looking around for Yaku again. The shorter man sighed, lifting his head. 

Yaku frowned, before saying: "I'll go ask. Wait here." 

And Yaku was off. Lev watched the whole event. Yaku came up talking with a friendly, nonsense sort of conversation, asking about his weekend, asking if he had anything he wanted to practice today. Kenma didn't respond at all, not even a glance in his direction. 

Yaku's expression changed when he sat beside him, though. He stared at Kenma, then the PSP, then stood up again and hurried over to Lev. 

"Is something wrong?" Lev asked, in a hurry, before he'd even approached. 

"Kenma isn't playing a game," Yaku said. 

"Huh?"

"His PSP," Yaku continued, voice in a low hiss. "It's turned off."

Lev frowned, but further questions were cut off by Nekomata clapping his hands together. 

"Everyone gather around, I have something to say…"

\---

The one constant in Iwaizumi Hajime's life had been Oikawa Tooru. The only person he genuinely couldn't imagine life without, as irritating and horrible as the man was on most days. There was something special, about a friendship so strong that they were capable of fully hating each other while also being hopelessly devoted to each other's happiness and wellbeing. 

In all his memory, he hadn't remembered a single day in which Oikawa and him hadn't spoken. Even as kids, giving each other the silent treatment, or when fully pissed off at the other (like when Oikawa 'accidentally' gave him the wrong directions to his date), the day usually ended with one of them begrudgingly and sulkingly texting the other, something stupid. 

They could be at each other's throats, but if Iwaizumi saw a joke he thought Oikawa would laugh at, he was going to send it to him. 

And then there was Sunday. 

Sunday, when from sunrise to sunset Iwaizumi had been completely and painfully aware of the silence of his phone. He's stared at it every second he didn't need his eyes on something else, and whenever he thought he'd gone too long without looking at it, he opened his messages to make sure something hadn't come in. 

It was a feeling he had never quite experienced before. A type of longing that surprised boredom and entertainment and bordered on necessity, driving him inside out with frustration and anxiety as he waited to find out what happened to his best friend. 

He needed Oikawa to come back to him. 

"Iwaizumi," Kindaichi called as he passed by, Kunimi half a step behind him. "Are you coming to practice?"

He jerked his head up from where he was staring at the blank phone screen, and the vacant look on his face must have read enough for them. 

"Dude," Kindaichi said next, lifting a hand up to scratch at the back of his head. "You feeling alright?"

He stood up. He didn't want to answer that. 

"And where's Oikawa?" Kunimi said, voice soft and curious as he glanced around. "You usually arrive together."

His heart seized. 

"I have to talk to the team."

\---

"Akaashi," someone called. "You good?"

Akaashi looked up, making eye contact with Washio before nodding slightly. 

"I… I'm fine," he said. 

"You look like you took the news pretty harshly," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"I already knew," he replied. "I was the one who called the police."

"Oh?"

Akaashi looked away, putting his hands into his pockets. He didn't want to have any conversation about it. He didn't want to be babied and looked down on. Besides, nobody here even thought he  _ liked _ Bokuto. Akaashi was just good at  _ managing _ him. 

They had no idea. 

"Well," Washio said. "That must have been a lot to deal with, if you need to sit out…"

"I'll be fine," Akaashi said, pulling away across the court. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want anyone looking at him, and asking questions. He didn't want to hear any fake comfort they had to offer. 

How was he supposed to tell them all that the last words he'd said to Bokuto were 'I hate you?'

Even if he'd been joking, Bokuto had looked sad. 

And Akaashi had walked away. 

Sure, he'd texted him the next day, as he left for his hiking trip. They'd arranged to hang out when he got back. Sure it was all normal, everything was fine. 

But Bokuto was gone. He was  _ gone _ . Alone, without him, and the last words he'd heard Akaashi tell him were  _ I hate you _ . 

Akaashi felt his heart seize in on him. 

Those couldn't be his last words to him. 

He couldn't bear it. 

And he didn't want to talk about it. Not to anyone but Bokuto. 

\---

"Ushiwaka will be fine," Goshiki was saying. "Just because he's gone is no excuse to lose practice time. Let's get back to work."

Tendou stared at the future ace, head tilting slightly to the side. 

Shirabu nodded. "Okay," he said, before turning and trotting off to get into position for a practice drill. 

"Tendou!" their coach called. "Get in line."

Tendou turned to look at him. "Nuh-uh." 

"Are you talking back to me." 

Tendou gave him a bright smile. "I don't think I can spike today," he said, before turning to skip his way out of the gym. "As a matter of fact, I'm feeling quite ill. I'll try again tomorrow."

"Tendou-"

He was already out of the gym. The happy skip in his step disappeared the moment he was around the corner, eyes darkening and head falling down. He wrapped his arms around himself. Wakatoshi would be fine. Of course he would be fine, he was the strongest person Tendou had ever met. 

But still. Terror was gripping him in a way he had never felt before, and he'd never been good at communicating his feelings to people. How was he supposed to tell them all that he hadn't been lying, that he didn't think he could spike or practice today, that if he jumped too high, his body felt like it would rip into pieces and he'd dissipate from reality. His whole body was humming with nerves. 

He didn't want to lose Wakatoshi. He  _ couldn't _ . 

It was supposed to be them against the world, not just Tendou alone. Wakatoshi had been the first person to speak to him like a person, the first person who didn't care if he looked a little ugly or freaky. The first person who just let him talk, who answered all his questions and never asked him to stop or be less weird. 

The first person Tendou had called a friend and meant it. 

The only person Tendou wanted to protect in this whole world. 

He turned without thinking, smacking his hand down against the wall of the school. A young first-year student passing leapt in shock, eyes wide in fear and rushing off. Probably to blabber on about the freak third year that was destroying the hallway. 

He glared at the wall. It would be fine. 

Come on, Miracle Boy. Be fine, too. 


	6. Black Bear

Akaashi Keiji was the last person on this planet that Sugawara would have expected to develop a friendship with. It was not in his nature to reflexively dislike people, but he had nothing in common with the setter, and had Bokuto not disappeared with the others, Suga likely never would have spoken a word to the man. 

But now, he was one of the only people who felt the same as Suga did. Yes, of course, Asahi was in pain too, the whole team was suffering and quite. Even people usually stone faced like Tsukishima had been sullen with downturned eyes. Not only was the team struggling, but the whole school seemed to feel the void created by the missing student. Daichi had been popular. Not in a  _ everyone loves me _ kind of way, but in that friendly team-captain way, where he said hello to everyone he made eye contact with, helped with after school events, always spoke at pep rallies and often helped first years find their classes. He was a known student, and now he was gone. 

Suga had felt bad for Michimiya, sniffling softly the whole duration of their math test. Students  _ Suga _ didn't even know seemed to tap their feet nervously. The whole world felt turned upside down - something like this, happening in  _ their _ small mountain town? What was next? A serial killer? 

And when he had gone to find Asahi, to confide in him after school and feel at home with the only other person Suga could trust as much as he did Daichi - the only person whose presence came even close to that of their captain - he'd found him with his arms wrapped around Nishinoya, taking comfort from the libero's presence. 

And Suga had realized  _ his _ person, who he wanted to run to, was the one lost in the woods. Everyone had someone to hold and work through this with but him. 

And Akaashi. 

"I just want him back," Suga said softly, rolling over in his bed to look across at the window. The clouds had begun clearing, but the pretty blue sky meant nothing to him now. "I want to protect him, undo all of this. Go back in time and tell him not to leave."

"I know," Akaashi replied on the other end of the phone. It was set on speakerphone, resting by his head. Suga was too exhausted at this point even to hold it. Days felt whole years long now. 

"Do you think they're okay? Do you think they got injured somewhere, or…"

"I don't know," Akaashi said, practically cutting him off. "I think… I think they're really… they're really strong. They're really brave. And they have each other." 

"What if they got separated," Suga said, voice weak. "What if… what if Daichi's out there, in the woods, sick and hurt and all alone…" he could feel tears bubbling up into his eyes, pain burning in the back of his throat as he tried not to break into full on sobs. 

"They have each other," Akaashi repeated, but his own voice is weaker. "They'll protect each other. He has them to protect him."

Suga tried to swallow his tears. "I wish there was something we could do. Anything we could do."

"The police are looking into it. Last I checked, they had already started searching the forest. They'll find them."

"They better."

Silence for a moment, then Akaashi said: "I want to help, too. But what could we really do? If we try and go find them, all that will happen is that we get lost too." 

"I know," Suga said. 

"We can't go charging into the woods."

"I really want to," Suga said, softly. "I want to burn that forest down and take him home."

Akaashi was quiet for a moment, before murmuring: "Me too." 

\---

It was the first time Daichi had seen the river they'd found the day before. They stopped at the bottom of the hill, starving after having finished off the few crumbs of food they'd had left, and filled their stomachs with the cold, wild water. He wet his face, slicking disastrously messy hair back across his head, thankful he had short hair. 

Oikawa was constantly pushing long strands from his hair, and both Bokuto and Kuroo's usually spiked and styled hair had worn out the gel last applied, leaving them with messy chaos as well. He looked over to Ushijima, who was drinking with his hands from the pool, before standing up and stretching. 

He turned his eyes up stream. It was a slight uphill path, and it wasn't an easy walk. Thick bushes grew almost right to the stream's side, meaning they had to fight their way through the undergrowth to stay close to the river. God forbid they lose sight of it and get re-lost. 

He glanced back to Oikawa, who was leaning against a tree. "Ready to go?" 

Oikawa glanced up, nodding. "Yeah," he said. "I'll be good."

"Alright, just shout if you need a break - Kuroo, can you help Oikawa?" 

Kuroo nodded, pushing himself up from where he'd been sat drinking water. Though they didn't intend to leave the river any time soon, they made sure to keep their water bottles full before heading off. 

They made good progress. Oikawa claimed his knee wasn't hurting as badly as it had been, though he was still limping incredibly severely. 

Daichi tried to regain the peaceful walking rhythm he'd felt on the first day, where things were scary but hopeful and life had the possibility of returning to normal. That is to say, he tried to enjoy it as much as he could. He tried to focus on the pretty looking flowers on some of the bushes, the way the clouds were beginning to part and show blue sky, the warmth of the skin on his scratched and bitten skin. 

Bokuto charged on ahead, having found a slender branch of a tree he was now using like a whip to hack branches and brambles out of the way. This didn't last long, and soon he had chucked the branch off into the river. 

Daichi watched it fly and splash, then sighed and continued on his way. 

He could really feel the hunger now. He was somewhat lightheaded, actually, and tried to make-up for it by drinking more water. He didn't dare complain, though, knowing everyone else was probably feeling the same. 

There was no point in complaining. 

And they walked, and walked, and walked. 

Daichi took his phone out after a minute, turning it on to check for service. He at 18% left, and was glad somewhat that he'd been able to make it last. Surely, surely, they'd wander within range of service soon. 

After a few minutes of staring at the screen, he realized the little service symbol wasn't going to appear, and he sighed. He opened up his messages, staring at the last few messages he'd received with a miserable expression. He'd give anything to hear from his family or friends right about now. Even it if was pointless. 

They probably all thought he was dead. 

"I hate forests," Ushijima said, without much warning. 

"I second that sentiment," Kuroo called. 

"Yeah I don't think I'm agreeing to go hiking with you guys ever again," Daichi said. 

And they fell back into silence. 

Ushijima relieved Kuroo from his place helping Oikawa, and the sun continued it's trek across the sky. The river grew stronger as they walked, which somehow boosted Daichi's confidence. The bigger the river, the more likely they were to encounter a bridge of some kind. The more likely they were to find a bridge, the more likely they were to find a path. 

Bokuto drifted back from the front of the pack after a while, looking sort of like he was dragging his heels. The walking was not ideal, that was for sure. Daichi's own feet were beginning to absolutely ache, and it was barely past noon. 

"Why don't we stop for a bit?" Daichi asked. "We've been walking for hours, we've made good progress. We need a break."

Everyone turned to look at him, before slowly nodding. 

"Thank god," Oikawa said. "Considering how pissy the night was, the sun is not doing us any favours today."

"I agree," Kuroo said. "It's  _ hot _ ."

Oikawa pulled away from Ushijima and stumbled off to find a tree to sit down against. 

"I'm gonna cool off in the river," Bokuto said, before nodding to Kuroo. "Wanna come?"

"Why not," Kuroo replied, before trodding after Bokuto as they slipped down the small bank of the river. 

Daichi watched them for a moment before deciding to follow along. It was slightly muddy, and the water was probably a foot deep by now. He was vaguely aware of Ushijima taking Oikawa's water bottle to fill it up for him, and Bokuto splashing water up over his messy hair. 

He didn't want to get soaked, but at this point his clothing was covered with rips and mud and honestly, sitting down on the muddy bank was not a big concern for him. 

He splashed water up onto his face, before cupping some in his hands and lifting it to his lips to drink. The swelling in his wrist had started to go down, thank god. He was worried it would have gotten worse being exposed and without any kind of treatment, but that didn't seem to be the case. 

" _ Woah- _ "

Daichi jerked his head up in time to watch Kuroo lose his balance, slipping on a muddy rock and cracking ungracefully down into the shallow river. He gasped, eyes wide and clothing soaked through. 

"Well shit," he spat after a moment. "That wasn't what I was going for at all."

"You look like a drowned cat," Bokuto said, unhelpfully. 

"Thanks." 

Daichi chuckled slightly, watching Kuroo stand up. "At least it's warm out again, you should dry off pretty…"

His eyes, locked on Kuroo up river slightly, had flickered to the side and noticed movement. At first, his heart fluttered with hope as he thought maybe it was someone coming down the river to fish or play or whatever, someone who could help them. 

Then his heart seized in panic when he realized what it was. 

A small, fuzzy brown mound, happily drinking at the water's edge. 

A black bear. 

But not just a black bear, not a big fearsome beast that they needed to avoid at all costs. 

A baby black bear. 

_ Meaning the fearsome beast was somewhere they couldn't see. _

"Kuroo get over here now," Daichi said, voice low and in a hiss as he scrambled to his feet. He slipped slightly on the rocks himself, but kept his footing. 

"Huh?"

"Kuroo, Bokuto,  _ now _ ," Daichi repeated. "Get the hell over-"

Bokuto looked around, sort of shuffling towards Daichi but more curious than anything else. When he noticed the cub, his eyes went wide. 

"Aww, but it's so cute," he said, helping Kuroo over. "It's just drinking-"

"The cub is not the problem!" 

Kuroo had picked his feet up, hurrying over with far more concern that Bokuto. "Yeah, dude, those little guys don't just travel alone."

"Ah, right, where-" 

Daichi glanced back to where Ushijima was, snapping his fingers and- oh, fuck. 

He noticed movement up in the woods, but it was just another small, lumbering shape. Another baby. 

He tried to map the geography in his head. The mother must be in the woods. The mother was in the woods. 

"Holy  _ shit! _ "

Oikawa's shriek from past the treeline split through the air, and all the boys jerked their heads around, panic flaring under their skin. The cubs, too, looked up in curiosity, though not terribly invested in figuring out what had caused it.   
" _Help!_ "

" _ Tooru! _ " 

Daichi wasn't sure what the protocol for a black bear encounter was, apart from  _ don't fucking engage a black bear with two small cubs if you value your skin _ , but Oikawa didn't seem to be given and option and Daichi wasn't about to sit back and let this happen. 

He slipped on slick stones as he scrambled up the banks, trying to give the second cub a wide berth to avoid scaring it or it's mother, shoving past branches that stung his skin and stumbling over roots. Oikawa wasn't too far from where they were, but he'd been driven deeper into the trees. The black bear was a massive, lumbering beast. Daichi had thought they were supposed to be the smaller of the bear species, not as concerning as the big grizzlies of North America or the polar bears in the Arctic. This, however, seemed absolutely massive and horribly concerning. 

And Oikawa, who only had one leg to work off and panic glazing his eyes, was stumbling back away from it, barely upright as the bear continued to approach. 

They were a threat to it's cubs and territory. It saw Oikawa as a threat. 

Oikawa couldn't even run. 

"Daichi-" he tried to call out, but the bear rose up, snarling as it continued it's intimidation. Daichi wanted to scream, scream at the bear that Oikawa wasn't going to do anything, he was already intimidated, it could relax. 

He knew he had seconds. 

Seconds before that bear decided to attack. 

Seconds before Oikawa would be taken down. 

Fear was tangible in the air, and time seemed to slow down. Daichi didn't think any of them could fight a bear. And that bear was fighting for it's babies, it didn't matter how little harm the group had meant, it wasn't going to back down. 

Seconds. 

He had a second to make a choice. 

"Daichi be careful-" Kuroo's voice from behind him is the only thing that makes him realize that he had already made a choice. A choice that involved grabbing the nearest chunk of  _ whatever _ off the ground - wood or a rock, he couldn't tell in his panicked haze - and take a few steps head start before absolutely  _ hurling _ it at the black bear. 

He moved to the left, away from Ushijima, Bokuto and Kuroo, who were now screaming, as the black bear swung it's head and gave a loud, roaring growl of his pleasure, and then it was running. 

Daichi could see the glistening teeth, the drool, the mud matting it's fur between massive, yellow claws, all in glorious detail. That thing was coming to Daichi - he'd made himself the biggest threat, standing between her and her babies and attacking first. 

Better Daichi that Oikawa, he figured. At least Daichi could run. 

Were you supposed to run away from black bears? He didn't know. 

" _ Daichi! _ " Ushijima shouted a panicked voice ripping through the air, which spurred him into action. Slipping on slick leaves and mud, he turned on his heel and took off at the fastest sprint of his life. 

He has no knowledge of black bears. 

No way to know if this is a futile mission, if he can escape. 

He has no way to know if it'll chase him at all. Maybe it'll wait until he's gone and then turn around and attack his friends. 

He just has to hope that they're working together. That one of them grabs Oikawa and gets away from it. Quick, while it's distracted, run into the woods, deeper, away from the river, away from the babies. 

A branch stings his face, then another. He kicks over roots of trees and hurls himself through the woods. He hears the sound of branches breaking and thinks with utmost certainty that he has been chased. 

He's nauseous, and lightheaded - two days of nearly no food, already on his fifth hour of walking today, he is not in peak physical condition. 

His foot hits a root. He can feel his heart seize into his throat. 

_ No _ . 

But the damage is done, and his whole body pitches forward. He twists slightly so he doesn't land flat on his face, shoulder digging into the mud and the brambles and the rocks. He pushes himself up, hands in the mud. His knees come up to push off the ground and take off back into a sprint, but before he can take action there's a snarling behind him. _You can do this, Daichi. You can do this._

His whole world erupts into white hot pain as claws sink into his back and drag him down into the mud. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daichi is my favourite Haikyuu character <3


	7. These are Not Medical Professionals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An Actual Note that's Not just Me Being Stupid: I am not a medical professional either! I can not guarantee the accuracy of the condition of any of the boys are in, especially Oikawa and Daichi. What I can say is I have my basic first aid certification, and have experienced spells of low-blood-pressure induced fainting. But that's it, so please take the medical side of this with a grain of salt, I'm doing my best without spending 13 hours becoming an expert in bear attacks. 
> 
> Also, the onslaught of comments (many making me laugh) after the last chapter was incredible, thank you all so much <3

The fighting survival instinct of a person is one of the strongest instincts they have - The bear could have torn Daichi's spine out and he would have fought to claw himself free and to safety. He screamed, agony in his shoulder and sides as the thing took it's anger out on him, claws raking down his back. It was so heavy, he was so tired. He tried to find something, anything, to use, before the teeth of the beast clamped down around his neck, or a similar fatal blow was dealt. 

He wasn't sure if it was it's claws or teeth in his shoulder, but he was ready to sacrifice the skin it held to tear himself free. He tried to get up again, screaming and thrashing and doing everything he could to fight, reaching to find anything he could use as leverage. 

" _ Hey! _ " 

He didn't need to. 

Like a rocket from the forest, fury incarnate itself, Bokuto caught up mere seconds after Daichi had gone down. It took him a handful of seconds longer to find a suitable chunk of rock from the mud, and then without any hesitation, twisted towards the creature and slammed that rock down on it's head. 

He roared, but Bokuto was fueled by fear and anger and he didn't give it a moment to recover, slamming the rock down on it's nose again. The bear twisted and tried to grab at him, but it's desire to fight was waning as Kuroo burst onto scene, hollering and waving a big stick around. Two against one was not worth it, not with the bear's babies behind her back at the river. 

"Get the  _ fuck _ out of here!" Bokuto screeched, hurling the at the bear as it scrambled off of Daichi, still growling and groaning and glaring fire at the men. 

But size and volume and number are enough to deter it, and Bokuto does a good job of being all three even without Kuroo behind him, bouncing on his heels and screaming expletives at the animal. Kuroo gave a similar shout, whipping the stick forward as the bear retreated. 

They were lucky. 

Lucky that it had cubs to worry about, lucky that they hadn't been alone. Lucky that Bokuto was a level of unhinged that overrode his desire for safety and allowed him to get in close enough to the bear. Lucky that it decided they weren't worth it's time. 

" _ Daichi! _ "

And then Kuroo was down by his head, helping lift it out of the mud. The world spun around him, pain and lightheadedness the only sense he was capable of focusing on. 

"Come on, buddy," Kuroo said, softly, trying to drag him up to his feet. "Come on, let's go… we gotta get out of here…"  
"Hell _yeah!_ " Bokuto screamed, still hyped up and energetic, eyes wild and face twisted into an adrenaline filled rage. "Take that you freaking beast, can't take on _me_ can you!" 

"Would you help?" Kuroo snapped. "Daichi is seriously hurt."

"M'fine…" Daichi mumbled, before crying out in pain as Kuroo tried to tug him up and put pressure on his shoulder. 

"You're not fine, Daichi, you got pounced on by a bear!" Kuroo snapped. 

Bokuto hurried over, still wild and probably unstable, but stronger that Kuroo and capable of hauling Daichi up. He groaned loudly, barely capable of focusing on what he could see and feel that wasn't pain and disorientation. The green of the forest, the taste of mud on his lips, the heat radiating from his back. 

His vision went dark the moment they pulled him up, the blood rushing from his head as his blood pressure dropped rapidly. 

Everything flickered dark and he slipped into a dead weight. Bokuto cursed, scrambling to grab him and haul him up over his shoulder. Kuroo tried to help stabilize him, wincing as his hand touched the red, wet stains over his shirt and shoulder. 

"This is… not good," Kuroo said. 

"Oh, really, I thought we were doing  _ fine _ ," Bokuto hissed, before stumbling and hauling Daichi off further into the woods, away from where they had driven the bear. They weren't entirely sure it wouldn't circle back to them, but Kuroo was almost 100% sure that bears were not vengeful creatures, nor were they interested in hunting groups of humans. 

"Ushijima!" Kuroo shouted, skipping ahead of Bokuto some distance. "Hey! Ushijima! Oikawa! Where are you?" 

The forest seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction, a green mess of brambles and tangled branches. The trio trekked further in. 

Ushijima had taken Oikawa straight away from the river when Daichi had taken off. Bokuto had followed Daichi, and Kuroo had hesitated before doing the same. He mentally tried to map the forest, using the fading sounds of the river behind him to head straight forward, hoping to cross into the other's path. 

" _ Ushijima! _ " Kuroo shouted again, louder. " _ Oika _ -"

"Kuroo!" 

He jerked his head around, eyes still wide as he found Ushijima practically dragging Oikawa through the forest. Fear crackled in the air as they reconnected. 

"Is he-"

"He's fine," Kuroo replied. 

"He is very much clearly not fine at all you-" Oikawa went off, lurching forward and away from Ushijima to balance against Bokuto and grab at Daichi, weakly trying to lift his head. 

"I'm still here," Daichi mumbled, voice thin and eyes closed, responding mostly to the movement. "My head…  _ hurts _ …"

"Oh, god, thank god…" Oikawa stammered, pressing his forehead down against the top of Daichi's head. "Oh my god…"

"Come on," Ushijima said, putting a hand on Oikawa's elbow. "We need to get a bit further away, find somewhere to take care of… to do what we can with his wounds."  
Oikawa nodded, using Ushijima as a crutch to head further into the forest. 

"I can walk," Daichi protested, weakly, from Bokuto's shoulder. 

"You damn near passed out when we stood you up," Bokuto replied, taking a few unsteady steps forward, following Ushijima and Oikawa. 

"That's 'cause I was surprised…"

"That thing had its teeth in your shoulder," Kuroo replied. "You're losing a  _ lot _ of blood, you're not walking."

"Mhm… stupid… I'm  _ fine _ …" the whining tone in Daichi's voice would have been funny if they weren't all feeling their hearts hammering in their throats. 

They only walked for a minute, and even though they were all glancing around fearfully, expecting a bear to leap out of the bushes at any moment, Kuroo eventually grew too restless and forced them to stop. 

"We  _ have _ to take care of that bleeding," he said, reaching a hand out to stop Bokuto. "No point in dragging him to safety just to let him die-"

"He's not dying," Oikawa interrupted, wobbling back over to them. 

Daichi weakly lifted a hand to throw up a peace sign. 

Kuroo forced his hand down. 

"Put him down, Bokuto," Ushijima said, reaching to help him do exactly that. They shuffled around quite a bit, before laying Daichi down as delicately and carefully as they could. 

They stomped around and cleared a patch of bushes to the best of their abilities, rolling Daichi onto his side to get a good look at the damage. 

His shirt was torn up, and low on his sides and back the original impact of the bear taking him down could be seen, though these wounds seemed moderately shallow. Painful, probably, but nothing more than cuts and scratches. 

His neck was bubbling with dark red blood though, and as Daichi groaned in protest at being rolled around, all four other boys had exactly the same thought. 

_ If that cut his artery, he was going to be dead in minutes, if not seconds. _

Kuroo knelt down beside him, reaching out to pull his shirt away from his shoulder fingers gently reaching to feel away at his skin and try and see how bad it really was. Oikawa felt nausea boiling away in his stomach at the sight, and Bokuto was about ready to run back and fight the bear again, but they held their tongues and watched. 

"I don't know," Kuroo said after a moment. "It looks… bad, but it's not… it's not… like… it… Let's get pressure on it, let's do what we can," he settled on after a moment, glancing around at them. "What can we use?" 

They all glanced down to themselves, and Ushijima was the first to move, stripping his jacket off and then his shirt, handing the softer fabric over to him. 

Kuroo nodded, quickly taking the shirt and rolling Daichi back over, pressing it to the wound. 

"How long was the bear on him?" Ushijima said. "That doesn't look like he took a bite out of him, but-"

"It was only seconds," Bokuto said, cutting him off. "I was just a few meters behind them."

"You did good," Oikawa said, putting a hand on Bokuto's shoulder. The other nodded slowly, staring down at Daichi with worried eyes. 

"Daichi?"

" _ Daichi? _ " 

Kuroo shook him gently, still working on trying to stop the blood weeping from the wound. "Daichi-kun, come on," he teased softly, giving a bit more of a nudge to try and stir him. "Come  _ on. _ We kinda need you not fucking dead here."

Ushijima shifted around, kneeling by Daichi's head to press his fingers to the uninjured side of his neck, feeling around for a pulse. 

"Well?" Kuroo demanded, after a few seconds, trying to put pressure more firmly to his neck without also suffocating the guy. 

"I can't feel anything…"

" _ What? _ "

"That doesn't mean anything," Ushijima said, quickly. "Typically a heart rate below thirty can't be picked up in the neck, but that doesn't mean it's gone."

"So start CPR get his heart rate back," Bokuto demanded. 

"Not with an open wound," Kuroo replied. Until the bleeding is dealt with, increasing his heart rate would only increase his blood loss…"

"He's probably lost a lot of blood," Ushijima agreed. "That's why we can't feel the pulse…"

_ Or he's dead _ weighed unspoken on everyone's tongues. 

"Is he breathing? Can you find out if he's breathing?" Oikawa asked, panic rising to his voice. 

Kuroo glanced around, leaning forward to try and feel for his breath. He put a hand on his chest, and leaned forward to press his cheek close to his mouth, listening and feeling for anything…

_ Anything _ .

"He's breathing," Kuroo said eventually, sitting back. "Shit, guys…"

Oikawa let out a sigh of relief, lifting his hands up into his hair and tugging on it nervously. "Oh my god…"

"He's still breathing," Kuroo repeated. "Which means he's just lost a lot of blood, but he'll be fine, right?"

"I… don't know," Ushijima said. "But as long as we stop him from losing any  _ more _ blood…"

Kuroo nodded quickly, keeping the shirt pressed to his neck. Nothing but the panicked breath of the four men broke the midday quiet of the forest, and after a few moments of this Kuroo lifted the t-shirt from the wound to take another look at it. 

"How does it look?" Oikawa asked, shuffling forward to peer down at them. 

"Not… good," Kuroo said, before taking a deep breath. "But… fine… Uhm… it's still bleeding, but it's not… gushing…" 

"Here," Bokuto said, immediately, pulling away from Oikawa so he could strip down. "Use my shirt to tie that one to him, then we should go find somewhere to settle until he's better."

Kuroo nodded, catching the shirt as it was tied to him. It wasn't easy - shirts weren't made for this - but after some convincing and teamwork with Ushijima, they managed to knot the shirt around his shoulder and under his arm, pinning the other damp shirt to his neck. 

Nothing about it looked medically sound or even useful, but they were all so at a loss for what to do that it looked good enough. 

"Ow…"

The word was like a breath escaping Daichi's lips, but caught everyone's attention, heads swivelling down to him. 

"Hey, man," Bokuto said, hurrying over to kneel down with him. He put a hand gently on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "You're not doing so well, are you?"

"Head hurts, body hurts, everything hurts," Daichi agreed, blinking. "What happened…?"

"You passed out," Ushijima replied. "We think for several reasons, but we're not doctors…"

"I might again…" he mumbled. "Everything's… black… and dizzy…"

"We're gonna let you rest," Kuroo assured him. "Just as soon as we get a bit further away. Think you can survive being carried for a bit?" 

"Go ahead," Daichi murmured. "Sorry… 'bout the…"

"Do not apologize you absolute disaster," Oikawa scoffed. "What on  _ earth _ are you apologizing for?" 

"Not running fast enough?"

"For fuck's sake."

Ushijima laughed softly, before bending to gently try and lift Daichi up. From a deadlift it was slightly hard, but Kuroo helped get him off the ground, and from there it was easy to hold him in his arms. It would be even easier if he could throw him over his shoulder, but he figured that wouldn't be the best thing to do. 

They were lucky they were all strong and athletic men to begin with - fighting and scaring off a bear, sprinting through the woods, carrying each other around… this would be a lot harder if they all hadn't spent the last three years of their lives perfecting their athleticism. 

They didn't walk very long. Mostly because they were all emotionally and mentally exhausted, but also because they wanted to let Daichi lay down properly. He kept waking up, which was a good sign, but wouldn't stay that way for long. Without food for him, it wasn't going to be easy stabilizing him. If at all doable. 

Kuroo was counting things off on his fingers. Low blood pressure from two days of starvation, followed by moderate blood loss? Severe pain, possibly going into shock, physical exhaustion? What  _ did _ Daichi have going for him?

They laid him down by the roots of the trees, watching deep brown eyes flicker open for just a moment to attempt to pass some stupid comforting joke before they rolled back in his head. 

Everyone sat down by him, exhaustion heavy in their own features and not daring to speak. They all circled around Daichi, knowing if there was one thing they were going to give him, it would be warmth. Right now, in the day, it was fine. But in this condition, if it rained again, or even just with the bitter cold of the nights… they didn't know if that would be the tipping point for his body. 

They sure hoped not. 

As it was, with two of the guys fully shirtless, no food, and a general fear of returning to the river despite the bear having probably moved on, things were not exactly looking good for them. 

"Hey… we out yet…?" Daichi murmured, eyes not opening. "I really don't want to be in this forest anymore…"

"I know, we know," Oikawa said, putting a hand on his shoulder and rubbing as comfortingly as he could. "You're gonna be okay, man. We'll get you out of here."

"Sorry again…"

"Don't apologize," Ushijima rumbled, from his other side. "It's not your fault."

"I need to thank you," Oikawa said, sniffing softly. "I don't think I'd be half as strong as you've been if a bear tore into  _ me _ …"

Daichi winced slightly, brow furrowing. "Don't remind me… I hate this… It  _ hurts _ …"

"We know…"

"I don't want to do this anymore…" His voice cracked, weak and fragile and in pain. It was petulant, and whiny, and with all the energy of a child forced to do a chore. A basic emotion that didn't take into account the practicality or reality of a situation. 

He could feel hot tears spilling over and down muddy cheeks, and Oikawa whined in response, lifting a hand up to use his thumb and try to wipe the tears away. 

"It's okay, man," he said, as reassuring as he could. "You're going to be okay. We're all okay…"

"I don't want to do this anymore," he repeated, softer. "I just want to go home… be back with my family… my friends…" 

"We'll get you there," Ushijima replied, putting a hand on Daichi's knee. "You can rest for a bit. You did wonderful. Let us take care of the next bit."

"Where are the others?" Daichi asked, softly, after only a moment of pause. 

"They went to look for something we could eat," Oikawa murmured. 

"That would be good…"

"Here, we have some water…" Oikawa added, shifting suddenly to pull out his water bottle. "You need to drink."

Daichi did want to drink. He wanted to drink until he drowned, actually, his throat parched and dry. He opened his eyes to look at him. It was getting easier - being awake, that is. His head was still aching, but colours were coming in clearer. 

"Save it, we don-"

"Drink the water, Daichi," Ushijima growled, moving a hand to help him sit up. 

The movement in his neck and shoulders to sit up sent pain flaring through his body again, and he winced, closing his eyes. The cool water against his lips and down his throat helped for a moment, but he laid his head back in exhaustion. 

"I'm so dizzy…"

"Relax," Oikawa said. "Rest. We'll take care of you."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. Everything is okay... "

Daichi fell silent there, slipping back into a dizzy haze. The other two sat like sentinels around him. 

\---

_ The door swung shut before Suga could really process what was going on, and he yelped in pain as it pinched down on the knuckle of his ring finger, sending a sharp pain flaring through his hand.  _

_ "Ow! Ow!" he complained, waving his hand frantically and dancing around the club room.  _

_ "You good, Suga?" their captain, Kurokawa called, watching him dance around.  _

_ "Yeah! Yeah! I'm good!" Suga called, lying through the pain as Kurokawa watched him a moment longer, before he turned his head outside. He waited until he was gone, then hissed in pain and waved his hand around some more.  _

_ "That didn't look like it felt good," Daichi said, coming up beside Suga.  _

_ "It hurts!" Suga complained, whining slightly. "God, that door is a demon, I swear this is the second time it's done that to- oh-" _

_ Dachi had grabbed his waving hand, holding it delicately as he reached to his locker and pulled out a roll of tape. He raised an eye to explain himself, then set to work without a word. Suga watched him, mouth parting slightly into what was supposed to be a protest but ended up just being silence.  _

_ It only took him a moment, to wrap his finger, but after tossing the tape off into his locker he lifted his hand up and pressed a delicate kiss just past the first knuckle, almost on his nail bed.  _

_ Heat flushed up over Suga's face, and his eyes widened.  _

_ "All better," Daichi said, before breaking into a perfect, white-toothed smile and nudging him playfully. "Now stop complaining! And take better care of your fingers, you're a setter, aren't you?"  _

_ Suga swallowed the thick, fluttering sensation down, nodding. "Right, yes, of course. Sorry." _

_ Daichi smiled for a moment longer before turning to head out of the club room. Suga felt his face heating up further and further, until he was sure his skin was red from forehead to toes. Oh, shit.  _

_ Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. No.  _

_ Oh God.  _

_ He had a crush on Sawamura Daichi.  _

_ Oh shit.  _

_ Suga groaned, pressing his hands over his eyes. What the hell type of move was that, Daichi? What the hell was up with that stupid little kiss? Freaking dumbass flirt he was, and now Suga had to put up with a crush on one of his closest friends. It was probably just supposed to be playful, right? Like a mom with a child?  _

_ He dropped his hands, then almost screamed, noticing the hulking figure that was standing opposite of him, watching him with a sort of uncomfortable expression.  _

_ "Oh, my god," Suga said, putting a hand over his chest. "I didn't know you were still here, Asahi…" _

_ "I noticed," Asahi replied, somewhat stressed. "You two couldn't wait, for whatever the hell that was - like I was just about to leave, man, you could have had that moment in private-" _

_ "There was no moment," Suga snapped, before shutting his locker and hurrying out of the club room. Asahi groaned, before following after him.  _

Suga sat on the couch, knees drawn up. The TV was turned to the news station, playing mindless updates he barely tuned into. His phone was in his lap, perpetually waiting for a message to come in, preferably one that said his best friend was coming home. He played with the fingers of his hand, running his fingertips up and down his ring finger. 

"Continuing from yesterday, the Gunma Prefecture Police have announced no updates on the missing teenage boys from across Japan. Presumably still lost in the Prefecture's vast woodlands, the boys have been missing since Saturday evening."

Suga lifted his head, tears springing to his eyes. Behind the announcers head, headshots of all five captains slowly came into view. They used Daichi's student photo. His heart seized just looking at it.

"Police will continue investigations in the woods, and urge anyone with any information to contact them immediately."

Another day of no news. 

Suga looked back down to his hands, and the news broadcaster moved on to talk about some festival Suga couldn't give less of a shit about. 


	8. Dead Weight

The night was bitter and cold and it alternated between clear and sprinkling icy water. It kept their skin dewy and frozen the whole night, freezing for a moment, then raining again. It covered their cheeks and their eyelashes, and gave a blue tint to their lips. Fingers were frozen and noses turned red, it was nearly impossible to sleep. 

The only person who slept at all, actually, was Daichi. Kept at the very heart of the currently huddling pile of boys, their top priority was keeping him as warm and dry as possible, to remove any possibility of him slipping past the point of no return in the night. Ushijima and Kuroo stayed on the outside, curled tightly against the warm backs of the other boys. Surviving the long, dark hours of the night seemed impossible. 

Every branch crack and snap made them jump, and the endless rustling of the otherwise silent forest kept them on edge. Bears were on the top of all of their fears now, though they managed the night without seeing or hearing any. 

Eventually, through some miracle, light began to creep over the horizon, and split through the trees. It was still frosty and cold, but they were praying that in an hour or two they'd be out of the morning sun and into the aggressive spring warmth they'd been hoping for. 

Daichi slipped in and out of awareness, shivering violently despite being at the warmest parts of the huddle. Thankfully, though, as the small group began to stretch and shift, sore, frozen bones creaking as they woke up, he woke as well. 

There was a definitive glaze in his eyes, a distraction that was impossible to ignore and likely wouldn't go away until he'd received proper medical attention. But he was alive, and that was all they really had to be thankful for. 

Ushijima tugged his jacket tighter around himself, standing up and stretching out his legs with eyes shut miserably, trying to regain a feeling of comfort at all. Oikawa watched him for a moment, from where he lay pressed against Daichi, before slowly sitting up himself. 

"What do we do today?" Oikawa asked, voice soft and low and breaking the silence that had reigned unopposed since about midnight. 

"What do you mean?" Bokuto asked, from where he was bending over and trying to touch his toes, as if warming up for a game. All of them, really, just wanted to get back to comfort. Movement might help warm them up a bit. Or at least drive away the shivers. 

"I mean…" Oikawa began, before glancing at Daichi. 

Daichi kinda just stared back, before murmuring: "We have to keep going."

"Keep going _where_ ," Kuroo replied, from above them. "My stomach feels like it's going to rip itself in half, Oikawa can't walk, you'll freaking pass out if you stand up… I'm so _so_ cold it's unbearable…" 

"To the river," Daichi said, voice soft and weak and eyes barely open enough to look at the Nekoma captain. "Then upstream. We can't give up now." 

Oikawa shook his head, lifting his hands to press over his eyes. "This is impossible."

"It's not impossible," Daichi mumbled. 

"We're never going to find our way out!" Kuroo said. "This forest is destined to eat us up, it's certainly _trying_ to."

Daichi winced, squeezing his eyes shut at the slight shouting. 

"We can't give up," Bokuto said, turning back to Kuroo. "If not for _our_ sakes, for Daichi. He needs to get to a hospital, we owe it to him to keep trying until we fall down." 

"We're going to fall down," Kuroo replied. 

"Then we fall," Ushijima offered, moving back over to Daichi. "But we don't stop until we fall down." 

Daichi grunted slightly, letting Ushijima haul him up to his feet. He swayed slightly, but managed to keep himself together. 

"We'll make it out," Daichi said. 

Kuroo stared at him for a moment, before looking away.

"Don't just stand there," Daichi snapped, voice hoarse and firm despite the situation. "Help Oikawa up and let's get on our way." 

Kuroo leapt up, nodding quickly and hurrying along to do as told. Bokuto watched him do so, before moving to shuffle in on Daichi's other side, helping Ushijima support him. 

"Are we going back to the river?" Bokuto asked. "Might be good to refill out water bottles…"

"Yes," Daichi said, nodding. "We stick to our plan… just… get to the river, follow it upstream…"

"What about… Bears?" Kuroo asked. "Or anything else, living along the river? What if something else attacks us?"

"Well then we freaking die, obviously," Oikawa said. Kuroo stared at him. 

"We do the best that we can," Ushijima replied. "We've made it three days so far, what's one more day?" 

Kuroo nodded, letting his breath out and hanging his head slightly. Oikawa leaned more heavily on him as they headed off. 

Daichi managed to keep his shit together as they headed the relatively short distance back to the river. Thankfully not getting turned around again, they shuffled over roots and through bushes. He started to slip as the small river came into view. He closed his eyes first, which eventually caused him to stumble over a rock. Ushijima put a hand on his chest to steady him. 

"Should I carry you?" he offered, voice low. 

"No, no," Daichi said, forcing his eyes open. "I'm good."

The pain was almost unbearable. Never before had Daichi existed so purely experiencing pain. Even when he'd cracked his head against Tanaka and lost a tooth, there'd been so much adrenaline, so much sound and shouting. Everyone had been there, the court had smelled of sweat and energy and the crowds had been bearing down. There had been so much _more_ than just the pain. 

Now, he was barely aware of the sun slowly warming them up. He wasn't aware of the small animals watching them, or the way the leaves of the trees fluttered in the slight breeze. He couldn't hear the crunching of feet over branches, or soft murmuring between the guys. It was just his neck, and his back. A fiery, burning pain that seared over his skin and only grew worse with each jostle and twist. Every movement reminded him of the split skin down his back and the dried blood stiffening his shoulders. 

"Are you sure?"

"I'm _fine_ ," he hissed back, but his own voice sounded distant and unreal. 

He was more lucid than yesterday, but in addition to alertness, the shock wearing off brought his adrenaline down, and that spiked his pain level significantly. Yesterday he'd barely felt it. He'd barely been aware of being dragged through the woods. 

Now…

"Let's rest," Ushijima said, shifting to help Daichi sit down. His head spun, and he wanted to lean back, but as he did the sticks and rocks and dirt clung to his still scabbing wounds, and he gave a soft cry of pain, hurriedly sitting up again. The sitting up twisted his skin and reopened the scratched low on his back, which only sent more pain through his body. 

"Here," Bokuto said, from his other side, sitting down. "Lean against me. It's alright."

Daichi slumped down against his shoulder gladly, nauseous slightly from the pain. "Thanks…" 

Oikawa hobbled away from Kuroo to take a seat as well, shifting awkwardly and using Bokuto as a prop to get himself down before leaning forward to refill his water bottle. 

"So, okay, twenty minutes of walking or so isn't… that long," Oikawa started, after taking a sip. Ushijima had filled one of their bottles as well, and was now trying to coax Daichi to drink. "We rest more often, and we make less progress, but we'll get there."

"We'll get there," Bokuto agreed. "This won't be _so_ bad."

Kuroo stood above them for a moment, watching them sit in a row before saying: "I'm gonna take another look around, look for something to eat, maybe… again… just… don't leave before I get back."

Bokuto tilted his head back, frowning slightly, but nodding. "Sounds good. Don't go far - shout if you need us."

Kuroo gave a slight nod, before turning and slipping away through the dense trees and bushes, carving a path.

"He probably shouldn't go alone," Oikawa murmured. 

"I'll follow after him," Ushijima replied, already standing up. "I think he's starting to crack…"

"Crack?"

Ushijima just hummed, leaving his bag down beside Daichi before turning to head off into the woods again, away from the river. 

It was not hard to follow Kuroo. After all, he was the only big thing currently crashing through the bushes and brambles, leaving not only a visual trail, but an audible one too. Ushijima picked up his feet, hurrying over roots and catching up to him as quickly as possible. 

He reached out to tap his elbow to get his attention, but Kuroo had already lifted his head, likely hearing his approach. 

"What?"

"Just thought I should join you," Ushijima replied. "Being alone seems like a bad plan."  
"Well, maybe I'm sick of you four and needed to be alone, huh?"

Ushijima kept his mouth shut on that one. If there was one thing he had learned after years and years of silence and listening, it was that people always volunteered to talk if the silence prevailed too long. Kuroo held out longer than most people might, possibly due to circumstance and the bad mood in the air, but eventually grumbled:

"I don't need babysitting, either. I can handle myself."

"Okay," Ushijima said, before pulling away slightly to peer at a log, a small clump of white fungus growing along it's side. 

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for anything to eat? Was that not why you came out here?"

Kuroo stared at him, then huffed. "Yeah, right."

Ushijima might not have been an expert in communication, but that certainly didn't sound like an agreement. He stood up again, before Kuroo walked off. He waited a moment, then followed a few steps behind. 

Peculiarly, it was _now_ that Ushijima was struck by the greatest sense of longing to be home. Sure, he had never _enjoyed_ being lost in the forest, but unlike the other boys, he had no one guiding light that he wanted to get back to. His father was overseas, and he wondered if he'd have heard of him being missing at all yet - he didn't necessarily trust his mother to bother to relay that information. And yes, of course he worried about his mother being stressed, but he wasn't as close to her as he would have liked to be, and they'd always had more of a professional relationship compared to that of his connection to his father. 

All this to say, he hadn't particularly worried about who might be waiting for him, who might be kept up at night worried sick about where he was. 

Until he was watching Kuroo stalk off into the woods and wishing desperately to have Tendou by his side. 

Ushijima was a quiet person, but he had never wanted to be mean. He was introverted, introspective, and found it nearly impossible to make friends with people who took that quietness and inverted it into disdain or aloofness. Tendou was chatty, and a little bizarre, and their conversations were one sided. (Ushijima found, more often than not, that he wasn't always able to follow exactly what Tendou was saying - especially when he went off about the plot of some manga Ushijima had previously never heard of.)

But Tendou had never been tricked by Ushijima's lack of responses, and seemed satisfied or happy even if all Ushijima could manage to respond with was a quiet agreement or nod. 

Unlike Kuroo now, content to let Ushijima's silence be the end of the conversation, Tendou had always been able to find something else to say. He'd never made Ushijima feel like a bad friend, or lacking in some way. 

He followed after Kuroo, wondering where to start. Tendou would know where to start, regardless of if it was the most delicate of starting places or not. (He did have a tendency to be a bit blunt.)

He wondered if Tendou was worried about him. Well, he was definitely worried, but… was he _worried?_ Would Ushijima walk back into the school to silence and confusion, a few pats on the shoulder of _glad you're safe_ before things resume to normal? Or was Tendou biting on his nails and waiting for his phone to ring, unable to focus on school or practice or anything? 

He found himself hoping for the latter. 

Tendou was the only person who called Ushijima a friend, and not a teammate. He was the only person who regularly texted him about things that really could have waited until they saw each other at practice. The only person who wasn't admiring him relentlessly, or generally fearful of his demeanour. 

He smiled, when Ushijima walked into a room. 

Had Ushijima ever smiled back? 

He couldn't remember expressly deciding to do so, but he hoped so. 

He hoped, if they died in these woods, Tendou wouldn't be left not knowing how much better he had made Ushijima's life. 

"Why do you look like that?"

The voice interrupting his thoughts was not Tendou, regretfully, but Kuroo, who'd turned to stare back at him with a scowl across his face and judgement in his eyes. 

"Like what?"

"Like you're planning a murder. Why is your face doing that?"

Ushijima only frowned further. Was he making a face? 

"Sorry. Unintentional."  
Kuroo huffed, before saying: "You're not going to push, ask me what's wrong?"

Ushijima glanced around, before slowly shaking his head. "I'm not sure what to say. If you don't want to talk, I can't make you, so…"

"I just want to be able to fix things," Kuroo said, and as Ushijima was tugged out of his private thoughts and back into the public conversation, he began to realize Kuroo had led him quite a ways away from the river, through the forest. It was as green and lush as ever, but the ground had begun to slope down again, putting Ushijima slightly up above the other. 

"We all do."

"I know we all do," Kuroo spat back, shaking his head. "That's not what I mean - I mean - Oikawa and Daichi are hurt, and Bokuto fought off a bear, and everyone else seems to _natural_ at this, like you were all born and bred to be optimistic and determined. How are you all not _losing your goddamn minds?_ " 

"I am… very concerned," Ushijima replied.

"You sure don't look it!" Kuroo said. "You all seem so ready to be wilderness survivors it's insane! I _should_ have noticed the bear in the river, I was literally the closest person to it. I should have moved quicker to get to Oikawa when he called for help, I should have been able to help Bokuto fight the stupid bear, I should have been able to identify those stupid mushrooms, or find something else to eat. I should have used my own jacket for Oikawa's knee, before anyone even suggested it. I should be able to remain optimistic, I should be able to keep looking forward and be the support you all need but I keep-"

"Kuroo," Ushijima interrupted. "Stop."

"Stop? Stop what? I'm going _crazy_ , here, man," he said, putting his hands into his hair. "I'm starving, we're all starving, we're never going to see our friends again, we're never going to see our families, we're going to die in these woods and I shouldn't be such a pessimistic dead weight but here we are!" 

Ushijima swallowed, trying to reach back into his mind and figure out how to respond to this, what was happening, what was needed. Kuroo's hands were shaking, he had closed his eyes. Everything about him was breaking down, his resolve, his body, his mental state. 

Ushijima wasn't sure what stopped him from being in Kuroo's place, what about him kept him sane and focused while others frayed at the edges and lost their way. 

"Tetsurou," Ushijima said, eventually, softer. 

Kuroo looked up, blinking panicked eyes at him in surprise. 

"We're all going to get home. You don't have to be a hero to help us get home." 

Silence arrived again. Ushijima was out of words, out of comfort. He stared at the lost, longing, hopeless look in Kuroo's eyes, the bug bites that littered his skin, the pale colour of his face, the mess of his hair. And Kuroo looked back - Ushijima was sure he looked no better. 

Kuroo opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything, the sound of car tires hissing over pavement filled the forest and their ears, and both of their eyes widened. 

Gone was the panic, the hopelessness, and the fear. 

They both turned to where the sound came from, then almost in sync leapt forward to chase after it, crashing through the forest at top speed. Log, root, bush, puddle. Ushijima slipped twice down the slightly muddy hill, Kuroo just a step ahead of him. They hit the bottom of it, already seeing what was ahead of them. 

Heart in their throats, hope practically a flavour on their tongues, they burst through the treeline and their feet hit pavement. 

They both stumbled slightly, over the yellow line, looking down at it with wide eyes, then to each other, then turning to look around. 

It was a long stretch of highway, disappearing into green at both ends and bordered with tall, foreboding trees. It offered nothing but direction, but it was more than they'd had in three days. 

It was a road.


	9. When We're Home Again

Ushijima and Kuroo are screaming about a road. Absolutely losing their shit, they are. They end up grabbing each other in a tight hug, nothing but relief and excitement coursing under their skin. Suddenly the freezing cold from the night, the hunger, the guilt, the pain, the fear, it just melts away. In its stead, a solid, heavy ball of hope. 

"Oh my god I could kiss the pavement right now," Kuroo said, bending down to put his hands on the painted line. "Oh my god we did it. We did it. All we have to - all we have to do is follow the road. Someone will see us, or we'll find a town. We'll be able to call home, we can- check if you have service!" 

"My phone died last night," Ushijima replied. 

"Shit, mine too," he said, patting at his phone in his pocket. He stood up again, turning to face him. "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. We've found a road, we'll get home now."

"We'll get home," Ushijima agreed, grinning back at him. Excitement crackled in the air.

The sound of tires over pavement caught their attention, and with joy and eagerness bubbling up they spun to watch the sleek white car racing towards them. They boy reflexively stepped back out of the way, to avoid getting hit, but waved their arms in excitement.

They were getting out of here. They were getting rescued. Daichi and Oikawa could get medical attention, they'd get a hot meal, everyone would be okay. Things would be okay. 

They could go home. 

The car slowed down, and the glint of the sun off the windshield prevented the boys from seeing what the driver looked like - and they would never find out, as shortly later the car had zipped past them and down the road. 

Hair tugged by the wind, they stared after the car as their salvation drove off to the distance, growing smaller and smaller and smaller. 

"Oh my god they ignored us," Kuroo said, disbelief thick in his words. 

"Probably for good reason," Ushijima offered. "Hitchhikers are not usually good news, right?'

"We're not hitchhikers! We're lost teenage boys!"

"They don't know that."

Kuroo let out a groan of frustration. "What, so because some whiny businessman is afraid of getting axe-murdered, we don't get to be rescued?"

Ushijima had to turn that sentence over in his head a few times before being fully able to process it. Kuroo kicked at the ground, before perking up and saying:

"Oh!"

"Oh?"  
"Daichi!" 

"Daichi-what?"

"Daichi, covered in blood!" 

Ushijima pursed his lips. "Kuroo, I am going to need more information than that."

"We won't look like axe-murders if we're clearly helping a very injured friend! People will stop when they see he's injured," Kuroo said. "We just gotta go get the others, then get back here, and we'll be golden."  
"Right." 

And like bats out of hell they turned to sprint back into the forest, scrambling up the initial, steep threshold to the trees before they were back in shockingly familiar territory. 

Neither one directly remembered the way back to the other boys. They'd ended up wandering a considerable distance further than they'd intended to, caught in the midst of high emotions and conflict, and were now facing the consequences. 

"It was more this way," Ushijima called, catching Kuroo's attention as they switched paths slightly and trudged further into the trees. Over logs, through bushes, swatting away thin branches that poked at their face. 

"Are you sure? I thought it was more up."

"It's not more up, it's this way."

"...are you sure?"

" _ Yes. _ "

So Kuroo trusted him, because the last thing he was going to do was split apart from his only companion at the moment. And they scrambled and skipped and fought their way further into the trees. 

"I hope they didn't move…" Kuroo mused after a moment. "What if they moved?"

"We'll find them."

"Should we start shouting? How close should we be? I don't like this at all, we could be going in the entirely wrong direction…"

"We're sandwiched between a river and a road. If we hit the river, we go downstream until we find them."

"What if they're upstream?" 

"Then we'll recognize the forest since we've already been there, and go upstream."

"You think you can recognize some random patch of forest we walked through yesterday?"

"Kuroo," Ushijima said, looking over to where he was walking, a scowl on his face. "You are being remarkably annoying."

Kuroo mimed zipping his lips, before they both continued through the trees. 

It was not easy to retrace their steps. It took longer to get back to the river than it did to find the road in the first place, but eventually the sound of rushing water hit their ears, and with one last burst of energy they hurried forward to splash out into its shallow waters, looking around. 

Downstream a bit, three blurry figures could be spotted. Two by the bank, one standing in the water. 

Ushijima waved, and the figure in the water - likely Bokuto, eagerly waved back. 

It only took a few minutes for Ushijima and Kuroo to pick their way back down the banks and towards the group. 

Oikawa and Daichi both looked like they might be asleep, leaning against each other, if it wasn't for the half open eye Oikawa was keeping on them as they approached. 

"You guys took…  _ so _ long," Oikawa murmured. 

"Yeah! You better have food for us," Bokuto said. "Otherwise what the hell were you doing?" 

"We found a road," Kuroo said. 

Everyone sat up straighter. 

Well, Oikawa sat up straighter, and Daichi slipped off his shoulder, thumping into the mud before waking and sitting up straighter. He made a sound of sleepy, pained confusion as he looked up to them. 

After that moment of silence, Bokuto said: "You… what?"

"We found a road," Kuroo repeated, before pointing off into the woods. "Thirty minutes that way, big ass patch of paved road. We'll get someone driving by to stop, and then we'll be free. We're geting out of here today."

Bokuto's eyes lit up. "Oh  _ fuck _ yeah!" he shouted, throwing his hands in the air. 

Oikawa lifted a hand to cover his mouth, eyes almost immediately glistening as tears sprung up. 

Daichi smiled slightly, eyes closing in relief. 

"Now come on," Kuroo said, moving around to Oikawa's side and practically hauling him to his feet, ignoring the other's screeching protests. "We have to hurry, who knows when the next truck or car is gonna come by."

Ushijima nodded, then bent down to grab Daichi. 

"I'm not luggage!" Oikawa was hissing, as Kuroo very forcefully wrapped his arms around him and started tugging him off through the woods. 

Daichi was more confused and less vocal, mumbling slight complaints and Ushijima and Bokuto worked together to get him on his feet. Lightheadedness washed through him, but he didn't say anything, stumbling along with the two boy's help. 

They once again retraced their steps through the forest. Everything was green and brown and lit by the now risen sun. Warmth had dried them, and with the hope of the road being the end of this nightmare, the forest began to be pretty again. 

Birds could be heard, small, colourful flowers poked from between bushes. Little animals skittered at their feet. 

Daichi processed none of this, since he was mostly trying not to cry in pain as he was nearly carried through the forest. 

The rest of the team noticed, though. How much better it felt, despite the hunger and desperation in their steps. 

"Oh, my god," Bokuto said. "When I get back to the city, I'm going to eat  _ so _ much food," he went on. "Restaurants are going to  _ fear _ me."

"I'm never going to take my morning shower for granted again," Oikawa agreed, a slight huff to his voice. "God, a hot cup of tea is going to feel  _ so _ good, and a long, hot bath…"

Kuroo smiled slightly, looking back at Oikawa as they hurried through the woods. 

"Yeah," he agreed. "God, that does sound good… as stupid as it sounds, I'm probably never going to reject a chance to play a game with Kenma again. I used to make fun of him all the time, since he never went outside… well… the outside can fucking  _ suck _ it. I don't want it anymore." 

Oikawa laughed, and Bokuto laughed, and so Daichi laughed, though he didn't really hear what he'd said. 

"What about you?" Bokuto asked, looking back at Ushijima. The ground had started to slope down again. They were near the road. 

"Me?"

"Yeah! What are you gonna do when you get home?"

"Probably change," Ushijima replied. There was a bit of silence, before Kuroo said:

"Well… yeah, no, fresh clothes - scratch that, the most comfortable pajamas I own… that'll be good…" 

Ushijima nodded slightly. "And I'll call my friend, tell him I'm alright…"

" _ Friend? _ " Bokuto asked, then said: "Is that the short dark-haired guy who's always starin' at you during games?" 

"Goshiki? No. Goshiki is more like a baby duck that accidentally imprinted on me." 

Daichi snorted into laughter at that one, lifting a hand to cover his mouth. The rest of the team laughed as well, shaking their heads in amusement. There was something especially bizarre about the sentence, when coming from Ushijima's usually bland and stoic vocabulary. 

"Tendou," Ushijima clarified, since he didn't like the idea of them just not knowing. "Satori. He's a good friend, I assume he's worried."

Kuroo hummed an understanding, and Bokuto piped up with: "That's the guess monster! He's freaking  _ terrifying _ , man, he's got those crazy eyes-"

"I'll kindly ask you to not make comments like that," Ushijima replied, and the friendliness in his tone had disappeared. 

Bokuto swallowed, nodding, and looking down to Daichi, who was stumbling along between them. 

"What about you, man? Once you're all healed up and not trying to not pass out, what are you gonna do?"

Daichi weakly lifted his head - it compressed the deep scratches on his neck and made pain burn through his skin, but at this point, that wasn't new. "When I get home?" 

"Yeah, what's your first priority? Bath, hot meal, twelve years of sleep?" 

"Call Suga," he replied, not quite focusing on Bokuto's face. "I missed our date, I should apologize." 

"You are unbelievable," Bokuto said, followed by: "I'm sure he'll forgive you." 

"You think? I don't want him to be mad." 

"How does your team put up with you?" Kuroo called. "You're ridiculous. Of course he won't be mad at you! I'm sure he'll be relieved to see you, and happy to know you're alive - though, at this point if you apologize one more time, I'm gonna make sure you won't be."

"Mhm… sorry…"

"Daichi!" 

"I can't help it!" he replied, before suddenly everyone was distracted by the site of the grey pavement in front of them. 

They all hurried forward, eyes wide and wondrous and absolutely shocked that it really, truly existed. 

Kuroo had been fairly sure that it had been a mirage, and it wouldn't be there when they came back. 

"Oh, sweet road!" Bokuto called, and there was a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the group. 

They were here. They had done it. They'd found a way out. No matter what happened, this road would lead them to a city, or at the very least, civilization. All they had to do was walk. Just walk, and walk, and walk. 

With no cars heard over the horizon, they picked a direction and started to walk. The sun was high, and without the cover of the trees, even hotter than it had been before. But they didn't complain. They used their water sparingly, not wanting to have to go back to find the river. 

And they walked. 

And walked. 

"I expected cars to be on this road…" Kuroo muttered after a moment, looking behind them for the millionth time. 

"Someone will come by," Ushijima replied. "Don't worry."

"It's hard not to worry... "

"Someone will come by."

"Oh - me and Ushihima's phones are dead, does anyone have a working phone? Anyone who can check for cell reception?" 

Bokuto dug in his pocket, then pulled out his phone. Oikawa did as well. 

"Mines dead," Bokuto mumbled.

"I had mine turned off…" Oikawa replied, letting his phone load up. "I'm only at… oh, god, I have seven percent battery left… okay…"

Everyone waited, and waited and waited. They stopped walking. 

"Oh my god," Oikawa said, glancing back at them. "Oh my god I have cell reception."

"Quick!" Ushijima said. "Before your battery dies, call 1-1-9." 

Oikawa nodded, hurriedly typing in the number before lifting his phone to his ear. The whole team waited, quiet and tense and hoping, hoping hoping  _ hoping _ , that this would be the end of it. 

After a moment, Oikawa perked up, eyes wide. "Hello? Oh - this is Oikawa Tooru. I don't know where I am - I'm - me and my friends were lost, we were lost in the woods… four days? Three and a half, oh, I don't - we - yes! The volleyball captains-"

He glanced at the others, saying: "They've been looking for us!" before focusing back on the phone. 

"No, I don't know where we are, we just got back in range of cell service. We're walking along a road, now, it looks like a highway… Please send someone, anyone, to find us. Please."

Daichi held his breath, staring at Oikawa's nervous expression. 

"Yes, I understand. We'll stay here. Okay. Thank you. No, I can't stay on the line. My phone is almost dead - oh, and one of us - yeah, we got attacked by a bear, one of us  _ needs _ to get to the hospital? Okay? Okay…" 

Oikawa nodded a few more times, before saying: "My phone is really going to die. I don't know what else I can do. We'll stay on the road. We'll look for sirens. Please send someone." 

A few moments passed, before Oikawa pulled the phone away from his ear. 

"They said they'll come looking for us. But it could be a while, since they don't know where we are and there are lots of roads to cover."

"That's fine," Ushijima said. "That's fine. It's okay."

"The point is," Bokuto agreed. "They're coming. And we get to go home."

Daichi smiled, leaning against Bokuto's shoulder. 

How nice it would be to go home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end! It's hard to believe that I only intended this fic to be 3 chapters, and now it's almost 30k. As always, please leave a comment if you feel so inclined, they really do make my day :) and tell me what you're looking forward to! If you feel especially passionate about the reconnection of some of the pairings please tell me so, I might do a whole chapter for each of them, but I don't want to do that if like.. say... everyone's only here for Iwaoi or something. (Daisuga is a given you can pry them from my cold, dead hands).


	10. Going Home

The image was not beautiful. In fact, it was anything but. It was a hot, dry sun scorching the backs of five starving and injured teenage boys. It was asphalt quickly wearing through the soles of shoes, gravel caught between toes and dried blood caked across Daichi's neck and back. It was ripped clothes and a blue sky, the trees whistling peacefully despite the pained groan Bokuto gives as a blister rubs itself open on his heel. 

It was the end of a trial that none of the boys should ever have had to live through. 

They knew the police were coming, but they walked anyway. Because maybe they'd reach the town, or a road sign, before the police reached them. It didn't seem to be the case. They walked for only an hour, maybe two, and somehow it was the longest walk they'd done in all four days. 

And then the non-beautiful scene was split by the flashing red and blue lights of a police car. The sirens came on once the boys had been spotted, and the shrill sound spooked birds out of the bushes and up into the clear sky. 

They all turned slowly, eyes blinking wide with wonder and surprise. Half believing these cop cars were merely an oasis, they waited until the officer pulled up beside them, already on the radio to report that the boys had been found. 

The window rolled down. 

"I'm assuming you five are our missing volleyball captains?" the office said, a young man with shaggy hair and a tilted cap. He seemed overly confident, but all five boys were glad to be handing the confidence over to someone else. "I'm officer Makoto, you guys are safe, now." 

Daichi was the first one to start crying. 

\---

He'd never ridden in an ambulance before. He laid on the little gurney in the back, head tilted to the side to stare at the young paramedic officer who was staring back at him. The officer's smile was reassuring and pleasant, a calming sort of expression. 

Though as calming as it was, it didn't ease the anxiety bubbling in his chest. 

None of the other captains had come with him in the ambulance, which arrived shortly after Makoto had radioed. They'd been taken away in two separate cop cars, though supposedly they'd be reunited at the hospital in the nearest city. They were 72 kilometers away from the trail they had started at. 

(Not once, in their entire ordeal, had they actually been heading back to the parking lot. The only time they got remotely close to the right direction was when they started following the river upstream, but they had gotten closer to the highway then.)

They gave Daichi water, which he was thankful for, and more importantly, food. They helped him sit up, and warned against eating too quickly, but it was hard for him to resist, even if it was just snack food and stuff they had on hand. They promised him a full meal once they got home, but he'd never tasted something quite as good as the rice crackers he first bit into. 

He didn't speak much, though he answered their questions. 

Nothing they didn't know. 

No foul play, no ill intent. Daichi was the worst injured, Oikawa's knee had been injured before the hike and exasperated. No, none of them had eaten anything weird. Yes, he knew his name, where he'd been, what was going on. 

It began to irritate him. He didn't want to answer questions, he wanted to go home. And he wanted his friends around him. It felt so wrong, having been shuttled off without them. Even Oikawa, with the damaged knee, had gone in one of the cop cars. (That was mostly on Oikawa, having insisted that it was just a sports injury and he didn't need anything fancy.) Daichi thought he was stupid, and was slightly bitter about it, because it left him alone. 

Being lifted from the ambulance and into the hospital gave him a brief view of the city around him. The insanity of it, the tall buildings, straight edges, the pavement, the cars, the lights, the people. They were back. 

It hadn't even sunk in yet - the city looked weird, and foreign, considering where they had come from. 

What if this were all a dream? What if he were about to wake up, covered in dew and mud in the forest, aching with hunger and begging for this very thing to happen? 

He didn't consider it too long, and let them get him into a hospital gown, then bed. He kept his mouth shut. Perhaps it was shock setting in, our just him trying to cope with the fast moving day, but he could barely find words to say at all. 

I mean, what was there to say? 

The nurses fawned over him, and brought him hot food and as much water as he wanted, and he ate eagerly with soft thank yous. 

"Where are my friends?" he asked, when the doctor came back in, clipboard in hand. 

"Getting treated themselves."

"They're all okay, right? Is this really all necessary? Can't we go home?"

"You will," the doctor assured him. Daichi tried to remember what his name was. Ryozo or Ryuji or something Daichi hadn't quite caught. He nodded. "Your friends just need to recover a bit, and then we'll make sure they all get sent home safely. You, though, are more of a concern - there's mud and dirt all across those scratches, and it could very well be infected. We need to get that cleaned up."

"Okay," Daichi said, followed by: "What about my family?"

"They've already been called," the doctor said. 

Daichi nodded again, looking down to his hands. 

"Now, Nurse Sato will be taking a look at those scratches you have, and getting proper sterile bandages on it. If you need anything else, please don't be afraid to ask."

"Thank you, doctor."

\---

The tempura in his dish is delicious, and warm, and usually Suga would be happy to eat it. Instead, he found himself prodding it around aimlessly, eyes glassy and unfocused. He wasn't sure if he'd eaten all day, but finding the dinner leftovers and microwaving them had been all he'd been able to manage. He couldn't even bring himself to finish and eat it. 

The news was talking about something stupid. About sports. About the weather. About some charity event. Nothing Suga cared about. 

He prodded the prawn with his chopstick again, before sighing and just setting his head down on the table. 

He couldn't even think, nowadays, without Daichi crossing his mind. Four days. Well, three and a half, but it may as well have been four. He was sick to his stomach just thinking about how much pain Daichi would be in. How much fear and loneliness and discomfort he was experiencing. 

Suga wanted to be there for him - even if it meant being lost in the forest himself, he wanted to be able to pull him in close, hug him, tell him it was alright. He wanted to be able to support him, and help him. 

Instead, he was useless. He was laying here, at home, perfectly useless. What a waste of space he was. 

Daichi was suffering, and Suga couldn't do anything about it. 

How many days could he survive in the woods? 

Daichi had a strong will, he was with capable people, they were smart, and determined… maybe he could survive four days. Maybe he could survive six, or seven. Maybe more. Maybe if he got lucky, he'd survive several long days and still make it home alright. 

Or, maybe Suga would suffer the rest of his life never knowing exactly how Daichi died. 

Maybe he'd live with the guilt of knowing Daichi hadn't even  _ wanted _ to go. That if Suga had said  _ Okay, fine! Skip the hike, come over and we'll watch a movie instead _ , he might be texting and laughing with him right now. 

He wasn't stupid enough to think that it was his fault. 

He just missed him. 

And hated the fact that he had told him it would be fun. Pushed him into it, when he'd been so unhappy about going already. 

_ It'll be good for you _ , Suga had said. 

This isn't good for him. 

Suga wrapped his arms around his stomach. This wasn't good for anyone. If Suga got the chance, he decided, he wasn't going to dance around the subject anymore. 

He was telling Daichi how he felt. He was going to do it. All this - all this told him was that the universe was willing to screw up absolutely every good thing in the world, and Suga wasn't going to waste one more stupid second of time pining for him. 

In fact, he was going to kiss him, he decided. If the universe gave Suga a chance to have Daichi back in his life, he was going to buck up and kiss him. 

" _ Koushi! _ "

His mother shouting from the other room alarmed him, and he jerked his head up, trying to refocus on the reality around him. Huh? 

"Koushi come here!" 

He stood up, hurrying through the small house to find his mother, phone in hand. 

"That was Mrs. Sawamura," she said, cheeks tinted pink, eyes bright and a smile crossing her face. "They found Daichi. He's alright." 

Suga felt everything leave his body, his hands coming up to his mouth. 

He's alright. 

Hot tears burned in the corners of his eyes before spilling over and down his cheeks, to his hands. 

He's alright. 

\---

"Daichi?" 

Daichi lifted his head, turning to face the doorway. His eyes lit up when he recognized Kuroo in the doorway. 

"Kuroo!" he said, pushing himself to sit up with a soft groan. 

"You look a  _ lot _ better," Kuroo said, waving at him vaguely. Daichi chuckled softly, lifting a hand up to brush through his slightly damp hair. 

"Yeah, they cleaned me up pretty good - you too, by the way."

Kuroo chuckled, wrapping his arms around himself. "Thanks…"

"How's everyone else doing?"

"Well, Oikawa's knee is right  _ fucked _ ," he said, first. "They've got him on pain meds and they're fully casting his leg up right now. Apparently it was dislocated… probably several times as we dragged him through the forest, and it's probably going to take a while to heal, but…" 

"Ouch," Daichi said, wincing in sympathy. 

"But they did say as long as he stuck to a proper physical therapy regime and didn't push it too hard, he'd make a pretty good recovery," Kuroo offered. "What about you?"  
"Apparently I'm the luckiest bear attack survivor in the world," Daichi said. "Nothing too serious, though the muscle in my shoulder got wrecked - though they said once it healed, apart from a bit of stiffness I should be fine…" 

"Good, good…"

"What about the others?"  
"Bokuto and Ushijima are both off stuffing their faces in the cafeteria. I just came from there - god, the food is terrible but I've never tasted something so delicious before," Kuroo said. 

"I know that feeling…"  
"We're actually…" Kuroo began before trailing off slightly. 

"We're actually what?"

"Ushijima, Bokuto and I are actually getting taken home, today," he said. "Like… right now. We went through full physicals, and apart from hunger and slight dehydration, we're fine."

"Oh."

"Bokuto and I don't have far to go, but Ushijima's getting driven back up to Miyagi."

"Right…"

"I… I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"  
"I'm sorry," Kuroo repeated, looking away slightly. "For leaving you. After everything we've been through, it… seems wrong. To just part ways like this."

"We'll see each other again," Daichi replied, smiling slightly. "Just try and stop me - next Captain Bonding Day will be indoors, though."

Kuroo smiled slightly, looking back to him and seeming in a slightly better mood. 

"And we're not leaving the range of cell service."

"Oh, absolutely not."

He chuckled, then: "Seriously, though, it… I don't even know what to say. It seems almost… it seems almost impossible too say enough."

Daichi nodded, before opening his arms slightly. Kuroo hesitated, before accepting the invitation and stepped towards him, wrapping his arms around his head and shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. 

Kuroo felt himself tearing up slightly, as he squeezed Daichi against his chest, and had to force himself to let go, lifting a hand to wipe his eye. 

"I'll text you when I get home," Kuroo said, sniffing. "Just to make sure we finish this adventure off right. And you text me when you're home! I want to make sure you're okay, okay?"  
"Okay," Daichi said, giving him a small smile. 

Kuroo nodded, turning to head to the door. 

"Oh, and say goodbye to Bokuto and Ushijima for me!" Daichi called. 

Kuroo nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'll-"

"Nobody is saying goodbye  _ for _ me!" Bokuto howled, coming up the hallway like a bullet and bursting into Daichi's room. Ushijima was just a step behind him, walking at a quick pace, but a pace that wasn't earning him as many glares from nurses as Bokuto's was. 

"Oh, god-"

And Bokuto had launched himself at Daichi, wrapping his arms around him. He squeezed tightly, and emphatically, swaying side to side slightly. 

"Bokuto you're crushing me-" Daichi squeaked, grunting slightly as Bokuto hugged him. His plea was not heard, though, and shortly Ushijima had joined, somewhat carefully patting both Bokuto and Daichi's backs. So Kuroo decided to come back over to them, joining the small group hug. 

\---

"They're taking me home now," Oikawa said, standing in the doorway. "That means you'll be the last one here."

"I know," Daichi said, laying back against the pillow as Oikawa slowly hobbled in on crutches, angling to sit on the edge of the bed. "I almost like it that way. At least I know you all got out safe."

"Don't act like you didn't!" 

Daichi chuckled. "You know what I mean."

"I do," Oikawa teased. "Dear captain of captains, your saviour complex is going to be the death of you one of these Captain Bonding Days."  
"At least it'll keep your sorry ass alive."

"That's true," Oikawa agreed. "Maybe I shouldn't complain about having a friend who's willing to sacrifice everything for me. Even their sip of water."

Daichi raised his eyes. "You saw that?" 

"Of course I did," he scolded, before reaching over to pat his leg. "You're a good man, Daichi. I wish we hadn't spent the last year of knowing each other being such bitter rivals. I didn't even give a shit about you, I was so bent on beating Kageyama…"

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving a hand. "As long as you promise not to go easy on us next time we play."

"Why would I go _easy_ on you?"  
"Because I'm your dear captain of captains, of course," Daichi said, giving him a fake pout. "And how could you throw one of your horrible spikes at someone who has a hurt shoulder?"

"Just for that, I'm spiking into your face."

He laughed, then nodded. 

"Alright, deal."

There was a silence for a moment, and then Oikawa said: "I think I owe you my life."

"Don't think about it, then."

"Seriously, if you hadn't leapt in to attack that bear…"

"Someone else would have."

"I don't know if that's true."

Daichi swallowed, looking at him. Oikawa was looking down at his hands, pretty face all twisted up and guilty looking. Daichi's heart broke, just looking at him. 

"Tooru," Daichi said, softly, catching his attention. Oikawa lifted his head, looking over to him. "It's okay. Don't blame yourself for any of this."

Oikawa swallowed. "All I did was cause problems. You had to suffer - you all suffered - because of shit I kept screwing up… I'm never going to be able to repay you, I-"

Daichi smiled slightly, then used his foot to nudge Oikawa. "It's okay," he repeated. "If it makes you feel any better, you're really not special. I would have done the same for anyone."

"I know you would have," Oikawa said. "And somehow that makes me feel even worse. Self sacrificing  _ bitch _ ."

Daichi laughed again, and Oikawa managed a smile, before he thumped over to lay on the bed beside him. Daichi patted his head. 

"We'll be alright," Daichi said, softly. "More than alright, even. Don't you have a boy to get back to?"

"Huh?" Oikawa said, though he didn't move his head, scared of disturbing the comforting fingers preening through his hair. 

"You know… Your lovely  _ I can't imagine my life without him _ , boy?"

"Oh…"

"Maybe if you want to make it up to me for all my sacrificing, you could shoot your shot."

"I never said there was a shot to shoot!" Oikawa protested, face heating up red. "I just… I…"

"I'm going to," Daichi said, wistfully. "I'm not going to let any second pass that doesn't have to without Suga knowing what he means to me. How much he means to me."

Oikawa hesitated, then nodded slowly. "I… what if I ruin our friendship? What if he's disgusted with me?"

"It'll be okay," Daichi assured him again, half closing his eyes. "And if he does, just send me a text, and I'll beat some sense into him."

Oikawa laughed. 

"Or!" Daichi said. "I'll send Bokuto on him. That kid fought a  _ bear _ . He's crazy." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've noticed, I've created a Series for this work! That's because I will likely extend upon the fictional Canon here, specifically the relationships between the captain squad and their related romances. Ie, this is the start of a Canon divergence Canon, since I'm too attached to my captains to fully let them go once this is done. 
> 
> You are in no way obligated to stick around for anything more, but if you like the characters and relationships I've created here and want to see more of it, I'd love to see you in the next installments. 
> 
> (This fic still has 3-4 chapters left I think dont worry)


	11. "Just Friends"

The sound of a crossing light blinking, tires crunching over small bits of gravel, the slight jolt of the car. His parents hadn't stopped talking, or crying, since picking him up. They'd been even more inconsolable than Kuroo would probably have been, which confused him slightly. As he gave comforting words to his mother, he briefly contemplated the fact that it was him who should probably be getting comforted. 

But maybe that wasn't important. Maybe he should just enjoy being back with his family, back in comfort. They'd stopped to get food, buying basically anything Kuroo had shown even a slight interest in. He wasn't complaining about being spoiled, though. He figured after the last few days, he pretty much deserved a bit of pampering. 

They still wrapped their arms around him as they got out of the car, pressing kisses to his hair and herding him inside. 

He twisted slightly, gazing off to where Kenma's bedroom window was. Oh, how badly he wanted to rush over there. 

The messages on his phone hadn't told him much. 

Kenma had only tried to text him a handful of times, and then presumably learned that the boys had gone missing and stopped. That was very Kenma-like - why waste time texting someone who wasn't receiving texts? 

But he was antsy, wishing nothing more than to rush over there right now and tell him he was alright. Did he already know he was safe? Or was he still waiting on news from him? 

But his parents were still crying, and Kuroo couldn't bear to just rush off on them. 

So he was herded into his own house, yawning slightly and mostly just glad to be home, finally. He hadn't thought he'd ever see it again. 

"I'm going to change, I'll be down quick," Kuroo said, pulling away from his parents to head upstairs. 

"Okay," his mother said, voice still heavy from crying. 

Kuroo gave her a smile, before trudging along to climb the stairs. His whole body felt tired. It was hard to believe that just this morning, he was waking up in a forest. He was surrounded by his friends, all suffering. Just this morning he'd been seconds away from bursting into tears. (In front of Ushijima Wakatoshi? That was a pretty bizarre thought.)  
And now he was home. Now he was going to go back to his regular school life, his regular routine. 

Everything was going back to normal now. 

What the hell even was normal? 

He pushed his door open, frowning immediately once he noticed the blue light glowing and lighting up the otherwise dark bedroom. 

"K…Kenma?"

Cross legged on the bed, blanket pulled up over his head and eyes ringed with darkness and red, Kenma stared at his PSP, fingers tapping away rapidly. At the door opening, he jerked his head up, eyes already going wide in what seemed like disbelief. 

"Kuroo?" 

Kuroo swallowed, nodding slightly. Kenma dropped the PSP, shaking off the blankets and leaping to his feet. It was almost in slow motion as Kenma raced across the bedroom, leaping forward and practically tackling him. He was too small to knock Kuroo over, but he took a step back to catch him, wrapping his arms around him tightly as Kenma hid his face in Kuroo's chest. 

"How did you get in here?" Kuroo asked eventually, tightening his hold on him. 

"I know where the stupid spare key is, stupid…" Kenma mumbled against him. He shook his head slightly, before gasping, and Kuroo realized he was barely holding back tears, clinging onto him like his life depended on it. 

"Oh, oh, oh," Kuroo teased softly, lifting a hand up to gently rest on the back of his head. "You missed me, didn't you?"

"Shut _up_ ," Kenma muttered. 

"Absolutely not, you're being adorable, and I don't know what to do with the information that you actually do care about me."

Kenma pulled back, furiously wiping at his eyes. "Of course I care about you!" he snapped. "Of course I do. Of course - I - Kuroo-"

Kuroo lifted a hand to Kenma's cheek to try and help brush the tears away, but Kenma smacked his hand away in embarrassment and shook his head, turning away. 

"I missed you," Kenma mumbled, crossing his arms. "I was scared…"

Kuroo moved forward slowly, carefully setting his hands on Kenma's shoulders, rubbing gently. "It's okay," he said. "I was scared too…"

"Of course _you_ were!" Kenma said. "You were… god, Kuroo, the news - the news was saying there was a bear attack, and… and you guys walked _so_ far, and…"

"And?"

"I… spent the last four days… just… sick… What if you'd never come home?" 

"Ah, well you don't have to worry about that," Kuroo offered. "I'm home."

Kenma nodded, lifting a hand to wipe his eyes again before heading over to the bed and crawling back into his dark nest, grabbing his PSP as he crossed his legs. "And you better _stay_ home. If you even consider going outside again I'm going to kill you."

"That seems counterproductive-"

" _Murder_. It will be murder."

"Got it," Kuroo said, putting his hands up in surrender before crawling onto the bed with him and scooting in beside him. He took a moment to tug his blanket up over their heads. Kenma took a moment to unpause the game, and when he did, he barely played. 

Kuroo watched him, smiling slightly before lifting a hand up to play with his hair gently. His best friend might be the least affectionate person he knew. He knew Kenma didn't do well with people. He knew he didn't like attention, didn't like being watched, didn't like expressing himself, lest it force him to deal with something uncomfortable. 

Truthfully, Kuroo had wondered for a while if Kenma liked him at all - nevermind even a fraction as deeply as Kuroo liked _him_. He'd thought, maybe, that Kenma called him his best friend solely because it was convenient, and easier than finding someone else that he related to more. 

He didn't have to think that anymore. 

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the side of Kenma's head. 

Kenma scowled. "You're being weird again."

Kuroo set his head down on top of Kenma's. "I just went through a very scary ordeal. I think it's your duty as my best friend to comfort me. I need affection, Kenma. Or I might start crying." 

Kenma sighed. "Okay," he said. "That's okay."  
Kuroo wrapped an arm around him. 

"That's still okay."

Kuroo smiled, then lifted his other arm to wrap around him. 

"Okay now you're interfering with my game."

\---

"You're brave, kid," the cop said, as Ushijima slowly got out of the car.

"Thank you."

The cop stared at him, before slowly nodding. Ushijima shut the door, and the car pulled away from the sidewalk, taking off down the road. The sky was clear, the residential neighbourhood serene and calm, the birds singing slightly as if nothing was wrong. 

As if the world was right, and nothing had happened. 

Ushijima could almost pretend nothing _had_ happened. He could almost pretend that he was just coming home. 

He turned slightly to look towards his house. 

" _Wakatoshi-kun!_ "

The shout was long and drawn out, each sound and syllable stressed over multiple seconds as the red-haired terror that Ushijima called his best friend came barreling down the sidewalk, eyes wide. Ushijima turned to face him with slight surprise, but before he could decide to reply or speak or even defend himself, Tendou had taken a flying leap forward. 

He crashed into Ushijima and just _clung_ , arms and legs wrapping around him like a monkey. It forced Ushijima to accommodate the new weight wrapped around his head and chest, his view obscured by Tendou's shoulder. 

He almost fell, but managed to get himself righted. 

Tendou slowly began to slip, but the hug was nice. In fact, more than anything else, Ushijima found himself hoping to never end this moment, the greeting, the closeness, the obvious worry and affection in Tendou's form. He wrapped his arms around him in return, eyes closing as he submitted to the hug and took up the job of supporting him, so he wouldn't fall. 

"You're truly amazing," Tendou said after a moment, pulling his head back to look at him after a moment of holding each other there. "Four days in the woods! And you barely have a scratch on you! Is this what a real miracle looks like, mhm?" he went on, moving a hand down to hold Ushijima's arm. 

Ushijima swallowed slightly. 

"I don't believe it's a miracle," he said. 

"Unlikely," Tendou agreed, nodding. "But, I would have died. Quickly! I can't even wrap my head around how you made it through four days in a forest. Did you eat anything weird? Where did you sleep? Did you sleep in trees? I bet you did."

"It was more like three days," Ushijima said, once there was a lapse in Tendou's rapid speech. Ushijima knew that Tendou's rapid questioning would only be a result of anxiety. And he must be anxious, as pressed chest to chest as they were, Ushijima could feel the other's heart hammering in his chest.

"Oh, I missed you, Wakatoshi," Tendou said eventually, shoulders slumping slightly. He was becoming heavier and heavier by the moment, but Ushijima found himself resistant to just let him down. "The whole team missed you, but they were all _oh, gotta stay in top shape! Gotta practice! Smack that ball! Boom! Spike! Oooh, good job! Keep practicing!_ "

Ushijima was not sure who's voice Tendou was trying to replicate, but he was not successful. 

He slipped further, and Ushijima had to give up, carefully lowering Tendou down to the ground. Tendou didn't seem to mind, going with the flow and stepping away, pacing to get the nervous energy out of his body. He'd always been so energetic, though Ushijima hadn't seen him like this outside of games or intense practices.

"What about the other captains, did they survive too?"

"They survived," Ushijima said, nodding. 

"Well that's good. Four whole days, and you all survived."

"Three days. And Daichi did get attacked by a bear, so we… had some close calls."

"Who?"

Ushijima tilted his head. "Sawamura Daichi."

Tendou stared at him, then just gave an apologetic shrug of indifference. 

"It's not you," Tendou said eventually. "And that's what matters. I don't think I could have survived losing you."

"Huh?"  
Tendou looked away. "Nothing. Do you want to go inside? I'll come inside with you, I don't think I've ever met your mother, but I'd love to do that now." 

Ushijima swallowed. "Perhaps that's not the best idea," he said. 

"Why?"

"She can be… blunt," Ushijima replied. "And you are…"  
Tendou looked over to him, and there was a rare moment of worry and vulnerability behind his eyes that broke Ushijima's heart. And that broken heart began to beat, heavy and warm in his chest, until he could feel it in his throat. A feeling he had never thought he'd feel for another person. 

"Blunt," Ushijima said. 

Tendou tilted his head. 

"I can't imagine a universe in which you two do not end up in a fight," he explained. "And I'm too tired for that right now."

Tendou's expression relaxed, and nodded. 

"Alright," he said, then: "The whole team misses you. Will you be coming back to the dorms soon?"

"I don't know," Ushijima replied honestly. "Probably. I'll come visit the team tomorrow, put their minds at ease."

Tendou nodded. "Sounds good, Captain!" he chirped, before awkwardly starting to take a few steps back, legs high and dramatic to try and minimize the discomfort of the parting. "Sorry for tackling you! I just got excited, you know. Not everyday you meet a real wilderness survival expert." 

Ushijima chuckled. "Right."

Tendou turned to fully saunter off. Ushijima watched him a moment longer, then glanced at his house, then back to Tendou's receding shape. 

"Hey Tendou?" Ushijima called, taking a few steps towards him. He turned around immediately, eyes raising. 

"Yes? How can I help you, Wilderness-Survival-Expert?"

How anyone could think Tendou was _unattractive_ was beyond Ushijima. 

"After school tomorrow, let's hang out."

" _Hang out?_ " Tendou said, cocking his head to the side. "Who are you and what have you done with Wakatoshi-kun?"

Ushijima chuckled softly, tilting his head in response, mimicking him. Tendou snickered, then slowly rolled his head to the other side. Ushijima followed, tilting his head to the side. 

"Okay!" Tendou said, springing up slightly. "You got yourself a weirdo, date - fuck - you got yourself a date, weirdo!" 

Ushijima laughed, and there was a slightly flush creeping across Tendou's cheeks, which Ushijima had never seen before. The other dipped his head, then turned to scamper away, though there was a distinctive skip to his step now. 

It wasn't until Ushijima was crossing the street to his house that he felt the heat across his own cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than usual by like 1000 words I'm so sorry 
> 
> These characters are hard to write with I hope I did them justice


	12. A Reason to be Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got carried away with the Iwaoi chapter so Bokuaka, who was supposed to be joined here, will have to wait.

Pain medication, Oikawa decided, was officially his new favourite thing. Before, he'd been blinded by privilege. Blinded to the ease at which he cured headaches, cuts, bumps and bruises. A bandage, a painkiller, and he was good to go. But now he knew the truth. Now, he was hyped up on some damn near industrial grade painkiller made to stun an ox and he'd never been happier in his life. 

Bitter sweet had been his parting with Daichi, whom before this horrible week had barely ever registered on his radar. While trying to think back to all the previous interactions they'd had, he came up with borderline none. Apart from watching him and that libero slowly master receiving his otherwise unstoppable serves, he wasn't even sure he fully knew his name until Bokuto had said he'd be joining them for the hike. 

And now he owed him - apparently, though, what the captain wanted was Oikawa's personal love life to flourish. He knew Daichi had mostly just been being sentimental (as he, too, was probably amped up on a truckload of painkillers at the time), but he  _ had _ told Oikawa to go after that boy of his. 

How was he supposed to prove he did? Send him a fucking snapchat? 

He looked down to his phone with tired eyes, brushing his thumb over the screen. It was still dead - he hadn't had a chance to charge it. 

He didn't have Daichi's phone number. 

The thought made him panic, a little bit, but he assured himself that he knew where Karasuno high school was, and he could steal it from Kuroo if he had to. 

"Honey?"

Oikawa lifted his head, surprised to see his mother looking back at him in slight concern. He realized he'd missed whatever question she'd asked. 

"Oh, hmm-"

"I just asked how you're doing… you must be tired, but you look so…"

"I'm okay," he replied, giving her a slight smile in return. "Thank you."

"I know you've been through so much," she said, voice softening even more if possible. "Is there anything special you want to do now? We can just go home and let you rest, or we could go out for dinner…? I could make your favourite meal, we could watch a movie…?"

Oikawa blinked, trying to process the question. 

What  _ did _ he want? Really, at the end of the day, what did he want? They'd fought tooth and claw to escape that spiralling, neverending wilderness. He must want something - if he didn't, he wouldn't have needed to find his way home. 

To return to people he loved. 

He smiled slightly at his mother. "That all sounds awesome - actually, what I really want is just to take a bath. Maybe dinner afterwards?" 

She smiled back. "Okay."

And they drove for a bit. 

He returned to the people he loved. His family, his team, he'd get to go back to the life he was in. But…

But  _ what _ , Oikawa? 

Was he returning to something happy? Was he happy? Was the whole point of dragging his broken body through that forest just to return here, take hot baths, practice volleyball until his bones were aching and his muscles hurt, scheme to take down the pride of Kageyama Tobio, and be the thorn in the side of Iwaizumi? 

"Can we make a stop?" Oikawa asked, before he even knew what he was saying. 

"Oh, of course," his mother replied, immediately, looking back at him. "What would you like?"

"I want to stop at Iwaizumi's," he said. 

"Oh! Oh, of course, he must be so worried for you," she said. His mother had always been particularly fond of her son's best friend - though less so when they were young, and constantly broke things trying to practice volleyball. "You know, he came by looking for you. The first day you were supposed to be back, in the evening."

"He did?"

"Yeah. All upset, too, said he couldn't get ahold of you… that's when we started to panic - we'd assumed you'd gone to his place and forgot to tell us."

"I do that a lot…" Oikawa agreed, chuckling, almost fondly. Not only that, but there were more than a dozen times he'd fully snuck out of the house way past dark and headed across the neighbourhood. They'd had fun. Iwaizumi snuck him inside. As kids, they'd stay out in the garden, whispering stories and laughing too loudly, until his mother would yell from inside. As they got older, Oikawa would sneak inside past their curfews, bringing snacks and games. They'd watch volleyball matches and tutorials, plan out how they were going to conquer the court. 

Oikawa hated his relationship with Iwaizumi, as it was, he realized. It was so close to everything Oikawa thought he was looking for in one of the dozens of adoring classmates that asked him out or tried to hit on him. It was intimate, and fun, and made him feel…  _ known _ , and seen, in a way nothing else did. Being with Iwaizumi made him  _ happy,  _ like nothing else did. 

And they were still  _ friends _ . Still just two friends, who bickered and laughed and fought all the time. Iwaizumi was the one dragging him around and getting him places on time, dragging him away from girls and fans, smacking him when he got too full of himself. 

He'd heard the team whisper. He'd heard them snicker when Iwaizumi snarled at him. Words like  _ not everyone loves the pretty boy, I guess! _ Words meant to make fun of him, but ended up cutting deeper than they could imagine. 

Because he knew Iwaizumi cared about him. Why else would Oikawa receive a flurry of notifications at three am telling him to go to bed when Iwai had noticed his bedroom light was still on.  _ Why else would he be looking for his bedroom light? _

Why all of it? 

"Tooru?"

Oikawa lifted his head, surprised. He realized, in his zoned out state, that he'd missed the fact that they'd pulled up in front of Iwaizumi's house. Oh god. 

No. No, no, no, Oikawa wasn't ready. He wasn't ready for this. What was he going to say? Or do? No, god, he should have just gone home. He shouldn't have asked for-

Iwaizumi had appeared at the front door, the sound of it opening and hitting the wall so loud Oikawa heard it in the car. He jumped, eyes wide, as he watched Iwaizumi leap down the couple front steps and practically sprint to the car, almost crashing down on the sidewalk in the process. 

"Oh! Someone's happy to see you!" his mother teased, but Oikawa was already getting out of the car. He barely had his injured leg out of the car when Iwaizumi had wrapped his arms tightly around him, forcing him to stumble back and catch his balance. 

"Oh, my god!" Oikawa laughed, wrapping his arms around him. He wondered why he was ever nervous. Being with Iwai was the most natural thing in the world. "Iwa-chan! You're crushing me!" 

Iwa just let out a frustrated sort of growl, before lifting his head and grabbing Oikawa by the shoulders. 

"You're a fucking dumbass!" he shouted. Oikawa flinched. "And this time I'm not kidding! Who the hell do you think you are? Getting lost in the goddamn woods? It was a fucking hiking trail all you had to do was stay on the fucking path you-"

Oikawa took a step back, laughing slightly to temper the harsh words. The step he took back pinched in the casted leg, causing him to flinch and hiss in pain, distracted. 

"Oh my god you- your-" Iwaizumi's tone changed immediately, as he moved down and reached to touch the top of the cast, but hesitated. His fingers twitched mid air, so Oikawa reached to grab them, holding gently. "Your knee…"

"I'm fine, but I'll take an apology," Oikawa said. "You're so mean to me."

"I'm not mean!" Iwaizumi snapped. "I'm just… I…"

Iwaizumi looked up at him again, eyes big and watery and ringed with red and Oikawa realized he was so close to crying. That alone made Oikawa's own eyes tear up, and before this turned any more embarrassing he looked away, face turning red. 

"I was worried about you, Tooru," Iwaizumi mumbled. "I was  _ terrified _ . You're too stupid to survive the woods, this is a miracle…"

"You could be sweet without also insulting me, you know…"

"I can't, actually. Your dumb face demands it."

"I really don't think it's necessary. I have a boo-boo leg. And a lot of trauma. And a new fear of bears. I think you can be nice to me for a bit."  
"I… _can't_."

Oikawa arched an eye. "And why's that, Iwa-chan?"

Iwaizumi stared at him for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking down to his feet. "I'm really glad you're safe." 

"I'm glad I'm safe too," Oikawa replied, teasingly lifting a hand up to Iwaizumi's head, putting his hand on his cheek. "Now that's the nicest thing you have to say to me?" 

"You absolute  _ dumbass _ ," Iwaizumi muttered, lifting his head up to meet his eyes. "If I stop yelling at you I'm going to burst into tears, so just let me have this!" 

Oikawa raised his eyes, once more taking in the scared look written across his face, the anxiety, the wetness of his eyes that was beginning to spill over. He used his thumb to brush some of it back, before Iwaizumi cracked and lurched forward, wrapping his arms around him tightly. 

Oikawa returned the hug, closing his eyes and resting his cheek against Iwai's head, letting his breath out. Soon, the tightness and desperation faded away into relief and affection. Arms clung less needy and hands started to rub backs. 

Oikawa slowly pulled away first, tentatively, as if looking for Iwaizumi's reaction. Making sure he was okay. Iwaizumi let him pull away, tilting his head up to watch him do so. He chased the hug after a minute, lifting his arms up higher to wrap around Oikawa's shoulders, and in the motion take the chance to push into a gentle, warm kiss. 

A kiss that was a long time coming for both of them, one that stole Oikawa's breath from his lungs and sent his head into a dizzy spell of stars and hearts. He barely managed to close his eyes before everyone around him went dark, nothing but the warmth of Iwaizumi filling his senses. 

He kissed back. He hoped even just a quarter as well as Iwaizumi kissed him. 

Something to fight for, someone he loved, and a reason to be home. 

(Iwaizumi Hajime).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Don't say a SINGLE word," Oikawa said, as he gets into his seat, face flushed and lips damp, unable to look at his mother.  
> "Why would I say anything?" his mother replied. "I just watched my son make out with his best friend for six minutes."  
> There's silence. Oikawa has never been more uncomfortable in his LIFE.  
> "Your father owes me eleven dollars."  
> "You only put eleven dollars on us?!"


End file.
